Yantai Travel Guide
By admin on 2015-01-14

Yantai (Yāntái 烟台) is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Shandong province. Located on the southern coast of the Bohai Sea (bó hǎi 渤海) and the eastern coast of the Laizhou Bay (lái zhōu wān 莱州湾), Yantai borders the cities of Qingdao (qīng dǎo 青岛) and Weihai (wēi hǎi 威海) to the southwest and east respectively.

The largest fishing seaport in Shandong and a robust economic center today, Yantai used to be known to the West as Chefoo, a misnomer which refers, in Chinese, solely to Zhifu Island (zhī fú dǎo 芝罘岛), which is historically governed by Yantai.

The contemporary name of Yantai came from the watchtowers constructed on Mount Qi (qí shān 旗山) in 1398, during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor (hóng wǔ dì 洪武帝), founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (míng dài 明代). The towers served to raise alarms against invasions of Japanese pirates (wō kòu 倭寇).

Tourism
Because of its fair weather and extensive coasts Yantai is a popular summer retreat. Like many other cities in China, Yantai has improved and upgraded many tourist sites targeted at both national and international tourist. An example of these improvements is the remodeling of the beach area to better accommodate patrons. It is also home to Asia's first bowling alley, which is located on the fourth floor of Parksons department store. There is also the haunted house , a highly exhilarating tourist attraction.