The old city of Liaocheng

The old town of Liaocheng stands in the middle of the prefecture, in the Dongchangfu district that keeps the name of the Ming and Qing prefecture. The Grand Canal flows through the city centre, and the county seat was moved to this site in 992 under the Northern Song, which is why the street pattern is older than most of the buildings. Travellers knew the town for its merchants: the Assembly Hall of Shanxi and Shaanxi stands here, named for the two provinces its traders came from, and the Guangyue Tower, the Iron Tower and the Lion Building are all within the old walls. Dongchang Lake lies in the city, and in 2001 Liaocheng built a tourist identity around it, calling itself China's water city north of the Yangtze.