Recently, Qufu, Weishan and another six counties and cities across Shandong Province were selected to become official provincial garden cities.

12 cities in all of Shandong applied to be named provincial garden cities in 2013; eight of them eventually achieved this accolade. They are Huantai, Anqiu, Qufu, Weishan, Jinxiang, Wulian, Tancheng and Linyi.

Most of the selected counties and cities are located in the central and western regions of Shandong Province, which benefits a balanced development and has great significance for improving the urban residential environment.