Lying on the East China seaboard where the Yellow River empties into the sea, Shandong Province forms a part of a large peninsula that thrusts far out into the Yellow Sea. Along its 3,000-km coastline are 25 ports, the biggest being Qingdao, Rizhao, Weihai, Yantai and Longkou. The province has an area of 156, 7000 sq km and a population of 86,432,000. The provincial capital is Jinan, a rail and highway hub in western Shandongnow connected by a newly completed 318-km expressway with Qingdao, the largest port on the Shandong coast.

Shandong is located on the eastern edge of the North China Plain, and felt the influence of Chinese civilization since remote antiquity. The earliest dynasties (the Shang dynasty and Zhou dynasty) exerted varying degrees of control over western Shandong, while eastern Shandong was inhabited by the Laiyi peoples who were considered as the "barbarians". Over subsequent centuries, the Laiyi were eventually sinicized.

Shandong is mostly flat in terrain. The northwestern, western, and southwestern parts of the province are all part of the vast North China Plain. The center of the province is more mountainous, with the Taishan Mountains, Lushan Mountains, and Mengshan Mountains being the most prominent. The east of the province is the hilly Shandong Peninsula extending into the sea; it separates Bohai Sea in the northwest from the Yellow Sea to the east and south. The highest peak of Shandong is the highest peak in the Taishan area: Jade Emperor Peak, with a height of 1545 m.

With beautiful natural landscapes and numerous historical and cultural relics, Shangdong has rich tourist resources. It offers a string of tourist attractions, such as Mount Taishan and the Temple, Mansion and Cemetery of Confucius, two World Heritage sites; Lingzi, capital of the ancient Qi State; Penglai, the well known “fairyland on earth”; Mount Laoshan, a sacred land of Taoism; Weifang, the “world capital of kites”; Qingdao, a charming coastal city famous for its annual International Beer Fair; Yantai, known worldwide as a wine producer; Rongcheng, a place considered as “the edge of the world” by ancient Chinese; Jinan, the provincial capital honored as “the city of springs”; and the site for watching the wonderful scene of the torrential Yellow River running into the sea.

The Jingjiu Railway (Beijing-Kowloon) and Jinghu Railway (Beijing-Shanghai) are both major arterial railways that pass through the western part of Shandong. The Jingjiu passes through Liaocheng and Heze; the Jinghu passes through Dezhou, Jinan, Tai'an, Qufu. and Tengzhou. The Jiaoji Railway is an important railway of Shandong, linking its two largest cities of Qingdao and Jinan, with the longest history of all.

Shandong has one of the densest and highest quality expressway networks among all Chinese provinces. At over 3000 km, the total length of Shandong's expressways is the highest among the provinces. The Jiqing Expressway (Jinan-Qingdao) and Jingfu Expressway (Beijing-Fuzhou, passing through Shandong) are all important arterial expressways.

The Shandong Peninsula, with its bays and harbours, has many important ports, including Qingdao, Yantai, Weihai, Rizhao, and Longkou. Many of these ports have historical significance as well, as the sites of former foreign naval bases or historical battles. Ferries link the cities on the north coast of the peninsula with the Liaodong Peninsula, further north across the sea.