Qingdao Overview

Qingdao is located in the southeast part of Shandong Peninsula with the Yellow Sea in the east and Yantai City in the northeast, Weifang City in the west and Rizhao City in the southwest. Covering an area of 1,159 square kilometers (447 square miles), it owns a natural port, which is also the marine transportation hub connecting the Yellow River Area to circum-Pacific Area. Qingdao is bestowed with the title of “the Excellent Tourism City in China” and “the Gardening City in China”, and it is one of the world's most livable cities as well.

The ancestors of human beings lived in Qingdao as early as 6,000 years ago, and it was named by Jimo City during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 B.C.-256 B.C.). Emperor Qinshi had climbed on the top of Langya Platform in Qingdao for three times after his unification of the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-206 B.C.). Emperor Hanwu once worshipped the Immortal on the top of Buqi Mountain in Chengyang District of Qingdao, ordering to build 9 worshipping halls in the Jiaozhou Bay in the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C-A.D. 25). It was established as a city in the 17^th year (1,891 A.D) during the reign of Emperor Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1,616 A.D.-1,911 A.D.). It became a prosperous town in the later years of the Qing Dynasty (1,616 A.D.-1,911 A.D.) with the name of Jiao’ao. In 1897, Qingdao was ceded to Germany and turned to be an important port and the first streets and institutions were planned and built. During the First World War in 1914, Japan ocuppied the city instead after their declaration of war to Germany. It is reverted to China on 10^th of December of 1922 and renamed Qingdao in 1930.  On 2^nd of June in 1949, it has been under control of People Republic of China ever since.

Qingdao can be divided into 7 districts and 5 cities, namely: Shinan, Shibei, Sifang, Huangdao, Laoshan, Chengyang and Licang District; Jiaozhou, Jimo, Pingdu, Jiaonan and Laixi City. The number of people reaches as many as 7.616 million in the city, among which the urban people are as many as 2.763 million.

Four main geographical regions make up of Qingdao, mountian area, hilly area, plain area and swamp area. The mountain area in the south and north, with Lao mountain as the highest peak, covers 15.5% of Qingdao territory. The plain area takes up 37.7%. The hilly land and swamp lands take up 25.1% and 21.7% separately. The coastal line of Qingdao is as long as 870 kilometers (540 miles) in total, among which the mainland line is 730 kilometers (454 miles) long, covering 1/4 of the whole costal line in Shandong Province.