Introduction

Qingdao is a beautiful coastal city that sits on the southern tip of Shandong Peninsula. Located on Jiaozhou Bay and facing the Yellow Sea. Qingdao is a well-known city that features a harbor, light industry, textile and home appliances manufacturing, oceanographic research, and tourism.

The city has seven urban districts and five county level cities under its jurisdiction, and faces Japan, North Korea and South Korea across the sea. The total area of Qingdao is 10,645 square kilometers while the urban area totals 1,102 square kilometers. The population of the city totals 7,206,800 while the urban population is 2,467,700. The annual average temperature is 12.2℃.

As one of few cities with autonomy in economic planning and budgeting power, a status normally only enjoyed by provincial governments, Qingdao has made remarkable progress during the past decades, achieving a total GDP of $27 billion in 2004. In the same year, the city has USD $6.766 billion of contracted foreign capital and USD $26.99 billion in gross international trade. The extensive transportation network of highways and domestic/international air routes enable the city to handle millions of passengers and tons of goods annually.

Its variety of architecture styles, unique geographic location and historical background transformed Qingdao into a tourist city and summer resort as early as the 1920s. In 2005, it received recognition as the most attractive city in China. The older Western part of the city is known for its traditional red-roofed buildings, green trees, blue sea and clear sky with many cultural relics set among charming natural scenery, such as Zhanqiao Pier, Little Qingdao Island, Xiaoyu Hill, Luxun Park, the Aquarium, the Marine Products Museum, the Navy Museum, Zhanshan Temple, the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Prefect Mansion, the hundred-year-old BaDaGuan Villa Area and many fine beaches.

In addition to the historic and Euro-Asian areas listed above, the eastern part of the city has been turned into a flourishing tourist and economic center that features many contemporary high-rise buildings and has welcomed many well-known companies. Areas such the Xianggong, Donghai and Aomen Roads, the Worldwide Overseas Chinese Sculpture Garden, the May 4th Square and Music Square are great places to view this economic and tourist expansion.

Other famous tourist sites around the city include National Shilaoren Tourist Resort, National Mount Lao Scenic Area, and other suburbs that showcase many natural and human landscapes.

As a famous tourist and economic center, Qingdao has more than 100 world-class hotels with fine dining. These include Shangri-la the Crown Plaza, Haitian Tower, the Grant Regency, the Equatorial Haiqing and Huanghai hotels, in addition to various inns and resorts.

Qingdao is also renowned for its institutions of higher education. There are 22 universities and colleges in the city. Ocean University is one of Asia’s leading universities in the field of oceanographic and marine research. Qingdao University is one of China’s great provincial universities with a large number of colleges and specialties. Other universities include Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao Technological University, and many others.

As a city with centuries of rich history, Qingdao boasts a colorful and eclectic food culture. Seafood is perhaps Qingdao’s most popular dining option, and tourists should not pass up the chance to sample the various seafood options while touring Qingdao, especially in the summer. There are two main groupings of seafood in Qingdao. One consists of dishes made with sea cucumber, abalone, shark fin, lobster, crab, and trumpet shell. The other includes sleeve-fish, shrimp, octopus, oyster, clam and scallop. Eating seafood, drinking the local beer, and swimming in the sea are a few of the many things that lure millions of tourists to Qingdao every year.

City Tree: Cedar

City Flower: Winter camellia, Chinese rose

Major Companies in Qingdao: Qingdao Beer, Haier Corporation, Hisense Group, Aucma, AT&T, HP, Microsoft Technical Support, IBM