Qingdao

Qingdao (青岛, Qīngdǎo) is a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula, situated on the Yellow Sea about 600 kilometers southeast of Beijing. The municipality includes the urban core on a series of bays and headlands, the old German-built district, and surrounding coastal and mountainous counties, with a population of over 10 million. Qingdao is one of China's major ports, a leading center of marine science and the household-appliance industry, and the home of Tsingtao beer.

Qingdao was a small fishing village until 1898, when Germany leased the bay and surrounding area and built it as a model colony of red-roofed villas, boulevards, a brewery, and a Protestant church, the architecture that still defines the old town. The colony was seized by Japan in 1914 during World War I, returned to China in 1922, and occupied again by Japan from 1938 to 1945. After 1949 Qingdao developed into a major industrial and port city, and the Tsingtao brewery, founded by the Germans in 1903, became one of China's most internationally recognized brands.

Today Qingdao offers visitors a breezy seaside city of European-influenced old town, golden beaches, and coastal mountains. The red-roofed villas and cobbled lanes of the Badaguan district, the Protestant church and the former German governor's residence, and the old pier (Zhanqiao) define the historic core, while the brewery and beer museum record the city's most famous export. The Laoshan mountains to the east, the long beaches of the southern coast, and the marina built for the 2008 Olympic sailing events round out one of China's most relaxed northern cities.

Highlights

Zhanqiao Pier

Zhanqiao Pier (栈桥, Zhànqiáo) is the symbol of Qingdao. Built by the Germans in 1892 as a naval pier and later opened to the public, the 440-meter stone walkway stretches into the Yellow Sea and ends at the octagonal Huilan Pavilion.

At low tide the pier becomes a gathering place for locals feeding seagulls, and the view back toward the old town captures the red-roofed European architecture that makes Qingdao's coastline so distinctive.

Tsingtao Beer Museum

The Tsingtao Beer Museum occupies the original Tsingtao Brewery founded by German settlers in 1903. The museum traces the brewery's history from its German colonial origins through Japanese management to its current status as one of China's most recognized brands.

Visitors walk through vintage brewing equipment, old advertisements, and bottling halls, and the ticket includes samples of fresh draft beer at the end of the tour.