Jining, Wade-Giles romanization Chi-ning, conventional Tsining, city, southwestern Shandong sheng (province), China. In early times the seat of the state of Ren, it later became a part of the state of Qi, which flourished in the Zhou period (1046–256 bce). It underwent many changes of name and administrative status. The present name, Jining, first appeared under Yuan (Mongol) rule in 1271 ce. In early times the city was usually subordinated to Yanzhou, about 20 miles (30 km) to the northeast, which was on the main road skirting the foothills of the Mount Tai massif.
Although Jining may have been the terminus of a canal to Kaifeng in Henan province during the 6th and 7th centuries, its historical importance began with the opening of China’s Grand Canal under Mongol rule in the 13th century. Jining is situated on the canal northeast of the long string of lakes (Zhaoyang, Weishan, Nanyang, and Dushan) that made it a key crossing place linked to the road system of the plain to the west. It also developed into a major canal port, the immense commerce of which was mentioned by the 13th-century Venetian traveler Marco Polo, who knew it as Singui Matu. Its importance grew still further when, in the 15th century, sea transport from southern China was abandoned, after which all grain supplies to Beijing were taken up the canal. Jining was a major staging point on the canal and served as a revenue-collecting centre for taxes on the grain from eastern Henan and southwestern Shandong. The city, which had huge granaries, was walled in the early 16th century and grew into a thriving commercial centre.
In the late 19th century, however, various factors combined to reduce its importance. The change of course of the Huang He (Yellow River) in the early 1850s created havoc on the canal, and the northern section beyond Jining fell into disrepair. The Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12) gradually abandoned its massive grain transport system and began importing grain for Beijing through Tianjin. A further blow came with the construction in 1912 of the railway from Tianjin to Pukou, opposite Nanjing, on a line following higher ground to the east. Jining was connected to Yanzhou by a spur line, but some of its wider commercial functions passed to Jinan in the north or to Xuzhou farther south.
Jining, nevertheless, has remained a flourishing commercial and collecting centre for the region. Since 1949 the city’s importance has revived with the reconstruction of the Grand Canal, which has once more become a major traffic artery; the completion of a rail line from Xinxiang (Henan province) via Jining to Rizhao (Shijiusuo) on the Yellow Sea, which provides shorter passage to the coast for coal mined around that line; and the exploitation of the coalfields around Yanzhou and Jining, which has made this area a major coal producer in China. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 507,020; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 1,186,000.