Qingdao

Qingdao, a beautiful seaside city, is located in the southeast part of Shandong Province. To the east, a short distance across the Yellow Sea, lie Korea and Japan, making Qingdao an important city for international trade.

For thirty three years, up to 1949, Qingdao was a colony of Germany and Japan. Thus, Qingdao has a great deal of European architecture. This foreign architecture -a remnant of the colonial past- now beautifies this seaside city. The red roofs, green trees, blue sea, and azure sky form a bright and colorful picture of Qingdao. The city is sometimes known as the Switzerland of the Orient.

Surrounded by the sea on three sides, Qingdao attracts many tourists with its charming seascape. Sights like the Eight Passes Villas, the Zhan Bridge, Wusi Square, Mt. Laoshan are impressing. Qingdao offers food with distinctive flavors--especially seafood. Also, Qingdao is the home of the famous Qingdao (Tsingtao) Beer.

The Qingdao Municipal Government recognizes the importance of the tourism industry and has further plans to develop tourism in Qingdao. To enhance the tourism industry, Qingdao now sponsors the Qingdao International Beer Festival, the Qingdao International Sea Festival, Beach Culture Festival, the Sea Affection Festival, and the Summer of Qingdao Festival. In cooperation with the Beijing Olympic Games 2008, Qingdao will hold the Sailing Competition in the Olympic Games in 2008. This great event brings a great opportunity for this charming city to build its bright future.

The relation of Qingdao and Korea
Since the first Korean companies began doing business in Qingdao in 1988, Korean people have lived here. Thousands of Korean people now live and work here, which makes Qingdao the city with the most Korea investment enterprises in China. And Qingdao also has the largest Korean population in China. With years of cultural exchange, they have established deep, close friendships and mutual trust with the native Chinese people.