Binzhou

Binzhou sits in northern Shandong where the lower Yellow River winds toward the Bohai Sea, an area of fertile floodplain, salt flats and coastal wetlands. The county of Huimin within the municipality is widely honored as the ancestral home of Sun Wu, the ancient strategist behind The Art of War, commemorated by a large themed cultural park. Huimin also preserves the Wei family manor, a remarkable fortified 19th-century merchant compound. Along the coast, the rare shell-ridge islands of Wudi and expanses of tidal wetland shelter migratory birds. Binzhou is a major grower of Zhanhua winter jujubes and a center for textiles, aluminum and food processing. The Yellow River and expressways tie it into the Bohai economic rim.