Jinan got its name because it was located on the south bank of the ancient Jishui (one of the four ancient rivers, "Jishui", whose old route is now occupied by the Yellow River). Jinan as an administrative region name appeared in historical records as early as the early Western Han Dynasty, more than 2,100 years ago. It has been a place where Yi people have gathered since ancient times. It is within the Taishan cultural circle and gave birth to Dongyi culture. It was characterized by firing black pottery 4,000 years ago. The cultural site marked by black pottery was first discovered in Chengziya, Longshan, Jinan, so it became the naming place of "Longshan Culture".

Times are changing, Jinan is developing, and vivid and touching stories have been and are being staged on this land.

During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, Jinan was the territory of the Gutan Kingdom. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Jinan belonged to the State of Qi. At this time, the famous battle between Qi and Jin took place in the Ma'anshan area in the northern suburbs of Jinan City today; Zou Yan, a great thinker of the Qi State during the Warring States Period, founded the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, and was a famous scholar of the Jixia School, and his tomb is in Zhangqiu; Lu Bian Que (a native of today's Changqing Dynasty) was proficient in internal medicine, gynecology, ENT, and pediatrics. He created the diagnostic methods of inspection, smelling, questioning, and palpation, which played an important role in the history of Chinese medicine. After Qin Shihuang unified the world, he established a system of prefectures and counties. The urban area of ??Jinan today belongs to Jibei County and is called Lixiayi. In the early Han Dynasty, Jinan County was established, which was the beginning of the emergence of the name "Jinan". Jinan County was established in Dongpingling (now Pinglingcheng, Zhangqiu County). During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Fu Sheng, a Jinan native and Dr. Qin who was over ninety years old, dictated twenty-eight chapters of the modern text "Shang Shu" so that it could be passed down to future generations. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, dynasties changed frequently. During this period, Buddhism flourished in Jinan, with Langgong Temple in Liubu, Licheng County as the center, forming a prosperous place of Buddhism in Shandong. In the third year of the founding of the Sui Dynasty, Jinan County was renamed Qizhou and administered 10 counties including Licheng. In the sixth year of Zhenghe in the Northern Song Dynasty, Qizhou was promoted to Jinan Prefecture. It is known as the "Land of Literature" and the "Land of Prosperity" and is one of the regions with the highest taxes in the country. The copper plate of the "Jinan Liujia Kungfu Needle Shop" trademark of the Northern Song Dynasty, which is preserved today, is the earliest existing trademark in China, indicating the development of Jinan's industry and commerce at that time. "Jinan Er'an" - Li Qingzhao (alias Yi'an) and Xin Qiji (alias You'an) wrote a large number of poems and became outstanding representatives of the "graceful school" and the "bold school" respectively, who are famous in the Chinese poetry world. In the Jin Dynasty, Jinan was still a prefecture and belonged to Shandong East Road. At this time, the Xiaoqing River was dug in the north of the city and led directly to the sea, making Jinan an important salt transportation distribution center and having a significant impact on the development of the local economy in later generations. During the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Jinan was still a place of cultural prosperity. Du Renjie, a famous sanquist and native of Jinan, was erudite and talented in both poetry and prose. He traveled to Jinan many times with the writer Yuan Haowen. After Yuan Haowen traveled around Jinan's landscape, he wrote words of praise such as "I envy the beautiful scenery of Jinan" and "I will always be a Jinan native". The urban gardens, lakes and springs have been renovated by Zeng Gong and others, and have become brighter and more pleasant, which attracted literary master Huang Tingjian to praise "Jinan is as chic as the south of the Yangtze River". In the early Ming Dynasty, Jinan governed 26 counties including Tai'an and Dezhou. In the ninth year of Hongwu's reign, Shandong's highest administrative organ, the "Department of Administrative Envoys," moved from Qingzhou to Jinan. At this point, Jinan became the capital of Shandong Province. During the Qing Dynasty, Jinan was still governed by Shandong Province. During the barbaric invasion of imperialism, Zhu Hongdeng, the leader of the Boxer Rebellion in Shandong, was active in the Changqing area. Instigated by the slogan "The boxing of boxing in the world will revive the Qing Dynasty and destroy the foreign countries", the anti-imperialist patriotic movement in urban and rural areas of Jinan reached a climax. At the beginning of this century, Jinan became the intersection of the two main railway lines, Jiaoji and Jinpu, with convergence in all directions and convenient cargo transshipment. After liberation, Jinan Special City was established. In May 1949, it was renamed Jinan. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Jinan entered a new era of socialism. Since then, Jinan's development has opened a new page.