Heze

Heze (菏泽, Hézé) is a city in Shandong. It is an off-the-beaten track destination, where foreigners are an extreme rarity.

Understand
Many people in Heze have never seen a foreigner. The local dialect is more widely spoken than standard Mandarin. Native Chinese speakers typically have no trouble with the dialect, as it is similar to the Beijing dialect, but it can prove challenging for non-native Chinese speakers.

History
According to historical records, as early as 4,000 years ago in the Neolithic Age, the ancestors multiplied and lived in Heze City, retaining many historical relics of primitive society. In August 1949, Pingyuan Province was established, and the northwestern part of the territory was divided into Heze special area and Heze County. Since then, "Heze" has become a local name at the regional or regional level.

Climate
Heze city is on the narrow north-south path between Taihang Mountain and Taiyi Mountain, with a temperate monsoon type continental climate. The main characteristics are hot summer and cold winter, four distinct seasons.

In spring, there is little rain, the south and north wind frequently alternate, and the temperature rises quickly.

Summer is hot and humid, often blowing southeast wind, rainfall concentration.

The autumn rainfall gradually decreases, the wind changes from south to north, and the temperature drops rapidly.

Winter rain and snow are rare, more northerly wind, dry and cold climate.

The whole year is full of light, rich in heat, rain and heat in the same season, suitable for the growth of a variety of crops, but the distribution of precipitation is extremely uneven, and often affected by the northern continental air mass, many years appear disastrous weather.

Get in
Heze has a long distance bus station and a train station.

Get around
It is possible to get around the city by bus, but they shut down on major holidays such as during the Chinese New Year. Cab rides are very inexpensive: about ¥10 will get you most places in town. If you are going to one of the surrounding villages, cab rides are often around ¥150. It is also possible to get around much of the city by walking.

See

 * There are some nice paths and bridges along the river.
 * Heze is famous for its peony blossoms.

Eat
Dumplings are one of the specialties of northeast China, and are common in Heze. Heze also has a surprising number of Sichuan restaurants.

Drink
Heze Melon Juice (菏泽瓜汁): Heze is renowned for its melon production, and you can find freshly squeezed melon juices such as watermelon juice and cantaloupe juice.

Connect
Emergency numbers: 110 - Police, 119 - Fire, 120 - First aid, 122 - Traffic accidents

Heze's area code for landlines is 0530, adding a "0530" at the beginning if calling from outside of the city. For international calls add +86, the country code for China.

Heze has many Internet cafés .Most of the bars that cater to the expatriate community and many of the foreign-based fast food chains — Starbucks, KFC, McDonald's and likely others — offer free WiFi. Many hotels also provide free WiFi service. The Great Firewall of China blocks popular web services including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, and Yahoo. Some of the websites that are partially blocked include Wikipedia, BlogSpot, WordPress, and Tumblr. To overcome these restrictions, travelers use VPN services that unblock these favorite websites. VPNs also help travelers to access Public Wi-Fi Hotspots securely.

Go next
Jinan is about 4 hours by train (6 hours by bus) to the northeast. Zhengzhou, Henan is likewise a few hours away by bus or train to the southwest.