Qingdao, Shandong Province, China

🇨🇳 Qingdao is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt, One Road Initiative that connects Asia with Europe. It has the highest GDP of any city in the province. Administered at the sub-provincial level, Qingdao has jurisdiction over six districts and four county-level cities. It is situated across the Shandong Peninsula and looking out to the Yellow Sea.

Qingdao is a major seaport and naval base, as well as a commercial and financial center. It is home to electronics multinationals such as Haier and Hisense. The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, links the main urban area of Qingdao with Huangdao district, straddling the Jiaozhou Bay sea areas. Its historic, German-style architecture and Tsingtao Brewery, the second largest brewery in China are legacies of the German occupation (1898-1914).

In 2007, Qingdao was named as one of China's top ten cities by the Chinese Cities Brand Value Report, which was released at the 2007 Beijing Summit of China Cities Forum. In 2009, Qingdao was named China's most livable city by the Chinese Institute of City Competitiveness. In 2018, Qingdao held the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

Qingdao is also one of the world's top 100 cities for global scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index. The city is home to several notable universities, including the Ocean University of China, China University of Petroleum, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao University, Qingdao University of Science and Technology Qingdao University of Technology, and Qingdao Agricultural University.

Economy In recent years, an important region in Eastern China, Shandong Province has seen substantial change in its economic landscape. Much of this development has been concentrated in Qingdao. Qingdao has seen rapid development. With an annual growth rate of 18.9 percent in 2006, the city's GDP reached 42.3 billion, ranking first in Shandong Province and tenth out of China's top 20 cities. GDP per capita comprised CN¥52,895 (US$7,616) in 2008. The GDP has grown steadily at an average pace of 16% annually. In 2006, Qingdao was ranked one of six "golden cities" by the World Bank, out of 120 Chinese cities assessed on factors including investment climate and government effectiveness. In 2018, Qingdao's GDP reached CN¥1200.15 billion, though it shrank a little in 2019.

Internationally, Qingdao is perhaps best known for its Tsingtao Brewery, founded by a German-British joint venture in 1903 that produces Tsingtao beer, the best-known Chinese export beer. It is also home to Haier, a large white goods manufacturer, and Hisense, a major electronics company. In 2002 guitar manufacturers Epiphone opened a factory in Qingdao.

In 1984 the Chinese government named a district of Qingdao a Special Economic and Technology Development Zone (SETDZ). Along with this district, the entire city had gone through amazing development of secondary and tertiary industries. Qingdao flourishes with foreign investment and international trade as an important trading port in the province. South Korea and Japan in particular made extensive investments in the city. Approximately 80,000 South Korean citizens reside there.

In terms of primary sector industries, Qingdao has an estimated 50,000 acres (200 km²) of arable land. Qingdao has a zigzagging pattern coastline, and thus possesses an invaluable stock of fish, shrimp, and other sea resources.

Qingdao's wind power electricity generation performs at among the highest levels in the region.

Industrial zones • Qingdao West Coast New District • Qingdao Special Economic and Technological Development Area • Qingdao Free Trade Zone • Qingdao High-tech Industrial Zone • Qingdao University Industrial Zone.

Transport: Road There are a total of 1,145 km (711 mi) of roads in the Qingdao area, with nearly 500 km (310 mi) of expressways. These National Trunk Highway System (NTHS) Expressways begin or pass through in Qingdao. Expressways that begin in Qingdao are in Bold: • G15 Shenhai Expressway (Shenyang, Liaoning-Haikou, Hainan) • G18 Rongwu Expressway (Rongcheng, Shandong-Wuhai, Inner Mongolia) • G20 Qingyin Expressway (Qingdao-Yinchuan, Ningxia)

Spur Route: G2011 Qingxin Expressway (Qingdao-Xinhe, Pingdu, Shandong) • G22 Qinglan Expressway (Qingdao-Lanzhou, Gansu)

These provincial expressways begin in or pass through Qingdao. Expressways that begin in Qingdao are in Bold: • S16 Rongwei Expressway (Rongcheng-Weifang) • S19 Longqing Expressway (Longkou-Qingdao) • S21 Xinwei Expressway (Xinhe-Weifang) • S24 Weiqing Expressway (Weihai-Qingdao)

Other than Expressways, there are also National Highways that pass through or begin in Qingdao. National Highways that begin in Qingdao are in bold: • G204 (Yantai-shanghai_sh) • G206 (Yantai-Shantou) • G308 (Qingdao-Shijiazhuang) • G309 (Rongcheng-Lanzhou).

On 30 June 2011, the longest bridge over water opened in Qingdao. The bridge, Haiwan Bridge, is 26.4 miles (42.5 km) long and connects Qingdao to Huangdao and Hongdao. It would easily cross the English Channel and is almost three miles (4.8 km) longer than the previous record-holder, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in the American state of Louisiana. Haiwan Bridge is supported by more than 5,000 pillars and costs about 10 billion yuan which is about 1.5 billion dollars. The bridge was designed by the Shandong Gausu Group and the construction lasted for four years. Haiwan Bridge cut the commute between the city of Qingdao and the sprawling suburb of Huangdao by 30 minutes. At least 10,000 workers toiled in two teams around the clock to build the bridge, which was constructed from opposite ends. On the same day, the Jiaozhou Bay Tunnel opened. The tunnel brought much convenience to people by supporting public buses and making transport between the two areas more convenient.

Marine Qingdao (official name: Qingdao port international co. ltd.) hosts one of the world's busiest seaports. Cooperative relations have been established with 450 ports in 130 countries worldwide. The port of Qingdao is part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. In 2003, the annual cargo handling capacity exceeded 100 million tons for the first time. The number of containers reached 3.41 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of cargoes.

By 2011, the port had become the world’s sixth-busiest by Total Cargo Volume, having handled 372,000,000 metric tons (366,000,000 long tons; 410,000,000 short tons) of cargo in that year. As of 2016, it was the 8th in the world in terms of TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units).

The Orient Ferry connects Qingdao with Shimonoseki, Japan. There are two ferry lines connecting Qingdao with South Korea. The New Golden Bridge II operates between Qingdao and Incheon, and the Blue Sea Ferry operates between Qingdao and Gunsan.

Qingdao port also includes a number of large adjacent ports including Dongjiakou.

Transport: Air Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport, located 39 km (24 mi) away from the city centre, is served by 13 domestic and international airlines that operate 94 routes, 12 of which are international and regional. The airport opened on August 12, 2021 as a replacement for Qingdao Liuting International Airport.

Transport: Rail Qingdao's railway development picked up during the late 1990s. It is at the start of the Jiaoji Railway. Qingdao's city proper has some major railway stations, including Qingdao railway station, Cangkou railway station, Dagang railway station and Qingdao North railway station. Sifang railway station is now closed to passengers.

D and G series high-speed trains travel on the Jiaoji High Speed Railway and reach speeds of 300 km/h (190 mph) on the Jinan-Qingdao Section. Services go to Beijing, Shanghai, Hefei, Jinan and Tianjin. The fastest train between Qingdao and Beijing is G206 / G205, which takes 2 hours and 58 minutes.

Domestic rail lines connect Qingdao with many cities in China, including Beijing, Lanzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Jinan and Jining.

Transport: Public Qingdao's public traffic owns 5283 large and medium-sized buses, CNG buses as of 2012.There are also 136 trolleybuses as of 2012. All of the buses and trolleybuses can be accessed using the Qingdao Public Traffic IC Card (青岛卡), which uses radio frequencies so the card does not have to physically touch the scanner. After that, all public transportation companies use Qingdaotong Card, the last company that started to use this card is the Zhenqing bus company located in The West Coast New Area of Qingdao (original Huangdao Distinct) in 2019.

Non air-conditioned buses cost 1 yuan (excluding the tunnel bus), The volume of road passenger transport approaches 737 million per year. The Public Transport Brand of 'Ri-Xin Bus (日新巴士)' is also known in China.

There are several taxi companies in Qingdao including Yiqing Company, Zhongqing Company, Jiaoyun Company, and, Huaqing Company.

Transport: Metro After getting the approval from the State Council, the government announced on 18 August 2009 that Qingdao is ready to spend more than 29 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) before 2016 on its subway construction. Construction of 54.7 km (34.0 mi) of subway line 3 was completed before 2016 with a total investment of 29.2 billion yuan ($4.3 billion). Metro Line 3 is the first line in function and opened on 16 December 2015. In the long term, the city plans to build eight subway lines in downtown and some suburban districts, which account for 231.5 km (143.8 mi) in future. The system has an operating length of 243 km (151 mi), lines in operation including Line 1, Line 2, Line 3, Line 8, Line 11, and Line 13.

Tramway The Qingdao Tram (official name: Modern tram demonstration line) of Chengyang District, Qingdao, is a tram system operating in Chengyang District, Qingdao, China. It opened in 2016. The Qingdao Public Transport Group Rail Bus Co., Ltd. is responsible for operation and management. The system is only composed of 1 tram line.

Architecture There are a large number of German-style buildings in Qingdao's city centre, a remarkable fact considering the German leased-territory period only lasted 16 years (1898–1914). The unique combination of German and Chinese architecture therein, combined with German demographic roots and a large Korean expatriate population, gives Qingdao a rather distinct atmosphere. An old saying described Qingdao as a city of "red tiles green trees, blue sky, and blue sea". This saying indeed gives a picture of a bird view of Qingdao. A larger number of areas in former foreign styles are well preserved. Althou

Language During the city's leased-territory days, German, the official language, was rigorously taught and promoted. Since the demise of Germany's colonial empire after World War I, the German language is all but gone, leaving little impact on the local languages. A local accent known as Qingdao dialect (青岛话; pinyin: Qīngdǎo huà) distinguishes the residents of the city from those of the surrounding Shandong province. Due to the efforts by the city government to promote standard Mandarin, most educated people can speak standard Mandarin in addition to their native dialect. With reform policies and English teaching, some young citizens have been taught English and many can converse with English-speaking foreigners. Business and traffic signs in English are becoming more and more common.

Festivals Notable festivals include: • Qingdao International Horticultural Exposition 2014 is the biggest international fair that has been held in the history of the city. • Qingdao International Beer Festival in August/September, held annually since 1991.

Media Qingdao previously had a large German community and a German garrison, so three German newspapers operated in Qingdao. German papers included Deutsch-Asiatische Warte (traditional Chinese: 泰東古今鑑; simplified Chinese: 泰东古今鉴; pinyin: Tàidōng Gǔjīn Jiàn; weekly newspaper published until 1906, included Die Welt des Ostens, Altes und Neues aus Asiens drei Kaiserreichen, a cultural supplement), the Tsingtauer Neueste Nachrichten and the Kiautschou Post (a daily paper published from 1908 to 1912, referring to the Kiautschou (Jiaozhou) Bay concession). German publishing in Qingdao ended after World War I and the beginning of the Japanese administration.

A 1912 publication of the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce said that the Tageblatt für Nordchina of Tianjin was read in Qingdao and that major newspapers from Shanghai were also read in Qingdao.

Bandao Broadcasting Media Corporation, a news and broadcasting agency was founded in 1999.

Economy: Tourist Industry Qingdao attracts many tourists due to its seaside setting and temperate weather. Parks, beaches, sculptures, and unique German and modern architecture line the shore. Its centrally located tourist information centre, the "Qingdao Information Center for International Visitors for International Visitors", is located on Middle Hong Kong Road (香港中路).

Qingdao's major attractions include: Western Shinan district • Zhan Qiao (Pier, 栈桥) • Little Qingdao Isle (小青岛) • Tian Hou Temple (天后宫), Qingdao Folk Museum • Badaguan (八大关; 'Eight Great Passes'), the older area of town with some surviving German architecture. • Lu Xun Park, named after Lu Xun, modern Chinese writer and critic, who lived and taught in the 1930s. • Zhongshan Park, named after the style name 'Zhongshan' of Sun Yat-sen, a famous modern Chinese politician. • Xiao Yu Shan (小鱼山; 'Little Fish Hill') • The twin-spired St. Michael's Cathedral (Kathedrale St. Michael; 天主教堂), a notable example of Qingdao's famous Neo-romanesque architecture, designed by German architect Alfred Fräbel, completed in 1934. • Qingdao Aquarium (青岛水族馆) • Kiautschou Governor's Hall (Gouverneurspalast; 提督府), the office building of former German governors and former municipal government • Xinhao Hill (信号山).

Eastern Shinan district • May Fourth Square (Platz des vierten Mai), coastal plaza with the Wind of May sculpture • Tsingtao Brewery (Tsingtao-Brauerei), founded by Germany and the most exported beer from China. • Zhanshan Temple (Dschanschan-Tempel), Qingdao's oldest Buddhist temple. • Qingdao International Sailing Centre (青岛奥林匹克帆船中心), hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Sailing competitions in 2008.

Laoshan district • Lao Shan (Mount Lao, Lauschan, 崂山), 40 km (25 mi) east of Qingdao, the most famous Taoist mountain with Taoist retreat – Great Purity Palace (太清宫) • National Shilaoren Tourist Resort (石老人国家旅游度假区), the famous bathing beach symbolized by a characteristic natural sea rock with a shape like an old man • Xiaomaidao Park (小麦岛公园), the park with hills, a beach, and a nice view of the coastal line.

Education Qingdao is also one of the world's top 50 cities for global scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index.

Education: University Qingdao is home to a large number of higher education institutions. The Ocean University of China, formerly called the Ocean University of Qingdao, is the most important university of maritime sciences in China. In addition, the Qingdao University, the Qingdao University of Science and Technology as well as the Qingdao Technological University have also been integral parts of higher education in Qingdao for decades. Shandong University Qingdao (SDUQ) was established in 2016, belonging to Shandong University System. Other institutions include: • China University of Petroleum, completed its relocation from Dongying to Qingdao in 2012 • Shandong University of Science and Technology, the main campus is based in Qingdao since 2003 • Qingdao Agricultural University, the main campus is based in Qingdao since 2007 • Qingdao Technical College • Qingdao Binhai University, located at Huangdao.

Shandong University was located in Qingdao from 1909 to 1936. A new branch campus of the university is under construction in Aoshanwei Town, Jimo.

International schools • Korean International School of Qingdao • Malvern College Qingdao • Pegasus California School, Qingdao • International School of Qingdao • Qingdao Amerasia International School • Qingdao No.1 International School • Qingdao Oxford International College • Yew Chung International School of Qingdao • Belt & Road Collaborative Innovation College (BRCIC)

Secondary schools • Qingdao No. 2 High School • Qingdao No. 58 School • Qingdao No. 1 High School • Qingdao No. 9 High School • Qingdao No. 15 High School • Qingdao No. 19 High School

Sport: Stadiums • Guoxin Gymnasium (Qingdao city sports center) • Yizhong Sports Center • Qingdao Tiantai Stadium • Hongcheng Stadium • Qingdao Youth Football Stadium

2008 Olympic Summer Games During the 2008 Summer Olympics, Qingdao and Beijing cohosted the Olympic Sailing competitions. In Qingdao, the events took place along the shoreline by the city. These events were hosted at the Qingdao International Sailing Center at Fushan Bay, near the city's central business district. An international broadcasting centre and purpose-built hotel were constructed for the Games.

Motorsport The IndyCar Series signed a contract with the Qingdao city council to hold an IndyCar race in Qingdao in 2012. The subsequently canceled race was supposed to take place on a 6.23 km (3.87 mi) street circuit.