Heze:
 

Heze (simplified Chinese: 菏泽; traditional Chinese: 菏澤; pinyin: Hézé) is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. 

Heze, formerly known as Caozhou, is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Shandong, China. It is home to 8,287,693 inhabitants, of whom 1,346,717 live in the built-up area around the seat of government in Mudan District.  The westernmost prefecture-level city in Shandong, it borders Jining to the east and the provinces of Henan and Anhui to the west and south respectively.

Heze has a monsoon-influenced climate that lies between the humid subtropical and humid continental zones (Köppen Cwa/Dwa), with four well-defined seasons. The city is warm and nearly rainless in spring, hot and humid in summer, crisp in autumn and cold and dry in winter. The mean annual temperature is 13.74 °C (56.7 °F), with the monthly 24-hour average temperature ranging from −0.9 °C (30.4 °F) in January to 26.8 °C (80.2 °F) in July. Nearly 70% of the annual precipitation occurs from June to September. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 48% in July to 60% in May, the city receives 2,411 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Heze is the largest center in China for the cultivation of the "national flower" peony, after which the Mudan District was named. Over 30% of its national income comes from the sale of peony. According to the government's materials in 1995,there is about 800,000 people living in this areas.