By MEI LING

The new city area in eastern Qingdao.

QINGDAO is situated on the Yellow Sea coast against a picturesque background of green mountains in southeast Shandong Province. It is a popular seaside tourist destination for people living on China’s east coast. Qingdao has abundant cultural relics and famous historical sites, and is best known for its stunning seaside scenery and German architecture, built by colonizers during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Historical City

Qingdao is considered the birthplace of Chinese Taoism. Around 6,000 years ago, this now-bustling city was just a tiny fishing village. As the years passed, more and more merchant ships came to dock, and the village quickly expanded. In the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 – 256 B.C.), when it became known as Jimo Town, it was the second largest town in Shandong. During the western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu (156-87 B.C.) went there to offer up sacrifices to heaven. Later, he built nine sacrificial halls, where he would worship his ancestors. By the start of the Qing Dynasty, Qingdao had become a prosperous town, known then as Jiao’ao.

In 1891, the Qing imperial government decided to establish defensive structures in the city, and the following year, construction started on a yamen (government office in feudal China), cannon emplacements, piers and wharfs. From 1897 to 1914, however, Germans occupied the city, and during this period, built houses and military defenses. By 1900, they had formulated a development plan for the city, with the aim of turning it into a military base, trading port and administrative center for their colony. In 1901, they began to build railways, connecting land and sea transportation, and also roads, forming the basic infrastructure of the modern city.

Qingdao beach is always crowded with bathers in summer.

Fast-forward to the modern era, and after implementation of the reform and opening-up policy in the 1980s, Qingdao was one of the 14 coastal cities that first opened up to the outside world. Grasping the opportunity for development, certain state-owned enterprises set up joint ventures with foreign companies, and famous brands, such as Haier, Hisense and Tsingtao (Qingdao) Beer emerged. What’s more, many foreign manufacturers came to Qingdao in search of development opportunities, which helped to accelerate the city’s economic development.

Since the late 1990s, more manufacturing and logistics companies have set up plants in Qingdao. Meanwhile, China’s entry into the WTO and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in which Qingdao will host the sailing events, have stimulated Qingdao’s economy, now far more prosperous that ten years ago. As one of the first cities in Shandong to open up, Qingdao has had an important role to play in the entire province’s economic development. It is transforming from a tourist and port city into a regional center and a multifunctional, internationalized city.

Old Architectures: Symbol of Qingdao

The many German-style buildings that are dotted among the green trees by the coastline make Qingdao easily distinguished from its surrounding cities. In the Badaguan (Eight Passes) tourist area alone, there are over 700 of these buildings, with steeples and baroque walls. In the interests of preserving these beautiful old buildings, no new construction projects are allowed in the old part of the city. Houses and streets there are being restored to their original appearance as part of an ongoing project.

During the First World War, the German army in Qingdao surrendered after two months of fighting. As most of the battles took place outside the city, the German buildings were not damaged in the conflict. Later wars in China did not reach Qingdao, so the city’s Western houses were largely preserved. In 1994, China’s State Council included Qingdao in its List of Historical and Cultural Cities.

When designing the city, the German colonists adhered to European city planning concepts of the late 19th century. After more than a century’s exposure to the elements, the buildings are now weathered, but their unique architectural appearance still shines through. The house at No. 56, Dengzhou Road was once the site of the most advanced German brewery – its brewers won awards at a German beer festival in 1906. They could hardly have imagined that one century later, the Chinese made Tsingtao (Qingdao) Beer would compete against German beer in the world market. Other notable Western-style buildings in the old city include the former German governor’s baroque mansion, which is now the Kang Youwei Museum, and the large Gothic church.

Overseas visitors at the Qingdao Beer Festival.

While both the government and individual restorers are contributing to the renovation of old Qingdao houses, more and more real estate companies are getting in on the act. The Qingdao Real Estate Company has poured capital into renovating the old houses in the Badaguan area. They restored the houses’ original look while fitting them out with all mod cons. The value of these houses has soared in recent years.

In the early 1990s, the Qingdao municipal government felt it necessary to expand the old city area of just 90 square kilometer of coastal strip along the Jiaozhou Bay in order to cope with further development. Since then, the Qingdao municipal government began shifting its economic development center to the eastern part of the city. More administrative, cultural, educational, financial, commercial and residential areas have sprung up in the area, demonstrating the rapid pace of the city’s construction. Although many residents have left the western part of the city, it and its old houses remain symbol of Qingdao.

Plans for a Modernized City

In 2003, Qingdao received the China Habitat Award from the Chinese Ministry of Construction, in recognition of its achievements in the field. Only eight Chinese cities have ever been bestowed this honor, and Qingdao worked hard for many years to become one of them.

In 1992, Qingdao started to implement its strategy to move the city center eastwards. First, the municipal government offices were relocated to the east, as a result, stimulating industrial and economic development in the new area. Within a decade, a modern metropolis was completed in eastern Qingdao, helping to conserve the old city while becoming a landmark for the new. Qingdao residents enlisted help from outside in the building of the new part of the city. A French architect was invited to design Donghai Road, and an Australian designed the Laoshe Park.

Flying Olympic logo kites.

In 2003, a strategy was implemented to build a Greater Qingdao, coordinating the development of Qingdao and its four satellite towns. The new strategy set the development course for the next few decades, with Qingdao, Huangdao and Hongdao along the Jiaozhou Bay as the Greater Urban Center. The huge project will see the city area of Qingdao expand to 1,100 square kilometers. More roads and highways will be constructed, including a 282-kilometer-long coast road that connects the Greater Urban Center with its four satellite towns.

The western bank of Jiaozhou Bay is another key development area for Qingdao. An ultramodern road for distributing containers out of Qingdao harbor has been completed; the Jiangshan Road-Jialingjiang Road fly-over is now open, helping to relieve congestion in the area; and the first tunnel in Qingdao, the Songshan Tunnel that leads to the Xuejia Island tourist resort, has also been completed. The Qingdao new development zone is a hotbed of domestic and foreign investors. In 2003, 49 projects were signed in the zone, each introducing more than US $10 million in capital. That year, the zone’ s main economic index was listed among the top five of the first 14 Chinese coastal economic and technological development zones.