Crossing Qilu: In-Depth Summer Vacation Experience

August in Shandong is so beautiful! Drive across Shandong from east to west: from the charm of Qi culture to the symphony of mountains and seas, an incredibly pleasant and stunning journey! When the sunset dyes the reed flowers of Xueye Lake red, the water reflects Jinan’s millennia-old cultural heritage. This largest urban wetland in North China was once a watchpoint for the Qi Great Wall beacon towers. Now, when egrets skim the water, the airflow from their wings still carries the rhythm of "Wen Shui Tang Tang" from the Book of Songs. An elderly scholar by the lakeside smiled and said, "Jiang Ziya’s fishing platform lies somewhere underwater, waiting for a destined visitor." The kite strings along the Weishui River connect the cultural codes of four cities. This land once nurtured the 800-year glory of the Qi State, and its cultural bloodline remains unchanged for a thousand years. As you walk, you’ll suddenly notice: from the A building of Weihua Hotel in Weifang, traditional kites and modern buildings dance together on the skyline; while the pine and cypress trees in front of the Laiwu Battle Memorial tell another thrilling story. In Yanshen Ancient Town, those Song Dynasty kilns are still "breathing." This living ancient kiln site preserves 13 mantou kilns and over 100 ancient round kilns. Running your fingers over the rough xiabo walls feels like touching the calloused hands of Northern Song craftsmen. Here, the entire 72-step pottery process from raw material extraction to firing is preserved, and even the clay formula is an ancestral "intangible cultural heritage code." A master craftsman told me, "The xiabo walls don’t use a drop of slurry, relying entirely on mechanical stacking." This is probably what they call "great simplicity." Sangjiayu in Yiyuan seems to have the magical ability to slow down time. The guest rooms of Yushang Village Inn are scattered at the foot of the mountains, hidden among the landscape. Staying in a house in the Yiyuan wilderness for a few days, a love for nature feels innate. The village inn’s design concept is "stones floating in the air," using locally unique stone materials to build stone roofs on the buildings. The mountain village evenings are always intoxicating, draping Yushang Village Inn in the afterglow of sunset. The moon lamps on the commercial street light up, casting childhood shadows on the corridor benches under the trees and the street-facing shops. From the pottery clay of Zibo to the waves of Qingdao, cultural memories create a wonderful chemical reaction where sea and land meet. In the stone-walled alleys of Qingshan Fishing Village, stories older than Qingdao Beer are hidden. Villagers still follow the Ming Dynasty border-guard fishermen’s tradition—repairing century-old stone houses with seaweed and moss. These "breathing houses" stay warm in winter and cool in summer. Early in the morning, when heading out to sea with the fishing boats, the old captain suddenly points to the sea: "Look at those whirlpools, they were stirred up by Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s dragon boat when he sent Xu Fu to seek immortality!" The four cities are like four movable type lead characters, arranging different cultural chapters on the land of Qilu. When you stand before the panoramic painting at the Laiwu Battle Memorial, you suddenly understand: the soil beneath the charging soldiers’ feet is the pottery clay of Yanshen Ancient Town, the waves of Xueye Lake, and the reefs of Qingshan Fishing Village. This continuation of cultural heritage may be the most touching "Shandong story."