Jinan's wisdom in cultural heritage protection highlighted

"This is a real 'City of Springs' because there are more than 800 springs – you can enjoy them, you drink water from them and you can swim in them, because the temperature of the water is permanent at about 18 C," said Kristina Zorkina, an editor from Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency, during a trip to Jinan in September.

"The scenery of Jinan is really fantastic, breathtaking and terrific. I was very impressed by visiting it," she added.

The city's unique spring water landscape covers a host of evocative water features in gardens, dwellings and lakes and other features that spread across the city.

The authorities have tried to integrate regional spring water protection and urban water system utilization, which highlights the ancient city's wisdom in promoting sustainable development and initiatives in water environment treatment and utilization. It also represents a unique system in China, even in the world, in terms of utilizing spring water resources.

In recognizing its persistent efforts and unique features, the landscape was included on the preliminary list of UNESCO world cultural heritage sites in 2019.