Dezhou

Dezhou stands in northwestern Shandong on the Grand Canal, historically a key transit point where the waterway met the road to Beijing, and its name means ford of virtue. It is famous nationwide for Dezhou braised chicken, a fragrant deboned dish sold to travelers at its railway station for over a century. A unique monument, the tomb of the East King of Sulu, holds a 15th-century Southeast Asian ruler who died here while returning from a tribute mission to the Ming court, and whose descendants settled in the city. In recent decades Dezhou has branded itself the Solar City, home to a large solar-thermal industry and the landmark Sun-Moon Mansion. The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and the canal keep it a busy crossroads. Grain, jujubes and equipment manufacturing round out the economy.