The region was inhabited by the non-Han people of the Eastern Yi , who were believed to have established a small state during the Xia Dynasty on the site of present-day Laizhou City. It became a feudal state call Lai until the Warring States Period, when it was annexed by the State of Qi. During the Qin Dynasty, Yantai belonged to the Qi Prefecture, later renamed Donglai Prefecture during the Han Dynasty. The area was known as the Donglai Kingdom during the Jin Dynasty (265-420) but later returned to prefecture status (first jùn, then zhōu). Next, the city became the Laizhou Subprefecture and, eventually, the Dengzhou Subprefecture in the time of the Qing Dynasty.
In July 1858 the Chinese empire signed the Treaty of Tianjin and Dengzhou was renamed for the last time. Yantai opened its harbor for business in May 1861, but was not officially designated an international trading port until later that year on August 22. This decree was accompanied by the construction of the Donghai Pass. 17 nations, including Britain, established embassies in Yantai. The Chefoo Convention was signed there in 1876.
On November 12, 1911, the eastern division of Tongmeng Hui declared itself a part of the revolutionary movement. The next day, it established the Shandong Military Government and, the day after that, renamed itself the Yantai Division of the Shandong Military Government . In 1914, Jiaodong Circuit was established with Yantai as the capital. Jiaodong Circuit was renamed Donghai Circuit in 1925. On January 19, 1938, Yantai participated as part of an anti-Japanese revolutionary committee.
After the creation of the People’s Republic of China, in 1950, Yantai was officially awarded city status with the outer lying towns of Laiyang and Wendeng tacked on as “Special Regions”. Wendeng was merged into Laiyang six years later, and this larger Laiyang Special Region was combined with Yantai City to become simply Yantai Region . In November 1983, the region became a prefecture-level city. Since then, Yantai has worked its way into becoming a modernized economic center in Shandong Province.
LonelyChinaTravel China Information Center |
 |
