Dongying

Dongying occupies the delta where the Yellow River finally empties into the Bohai Sea, a young landscape of silt, reed marshes and shifting coastline in northeastern Shandong. The city was founded in 1983 to serve Shengli Oilfield, China's second-largest, and oil and petrochemicals still dominate its economy. Its greatest natural asset is the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, where vast wetlands turn crimson with seepweed in autumn and shelter cranes and other rare birds. Guangrao County, part of the municipality, is traditionally honored as the birthplace of the strategist Sun Wu, author of The Art of War. The ever-growing estuary of new land draws ecotourists and researchers. Dongying Shengli Airport and expressways connect it to Jinan and the wider Bohai rim.