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We flew to Qingdao for the weekend, mercifully not long before an onshore wind swept in to clear away the thick air pollution that had graced our arrival and left us with sore eyes and throats for a day. A prosperous east coast city between Shanghai and Beijing, Qingdao was the location of the 2008 Olympic Games’ yachting events. But it’s much better known for its colonial German heritage and as the associated birthplace of China’s favourite beer, Tsingtao.
The Germans muscled their way into Tsingtao in 1898 following the killing of two German missionaries in the area, and stayed until World War 1. During their time here they built a substantial German town, many of whose buildings survive today in varying states of repair, and China’s first beer brewery. Modern day Qingdao is pleased with its German heritage and promotes it heavily in its tourism marketing.
We checked into the Oceanwide Elite Hotel on the Qingdao waterfront, next door to the former Prince Heinrich Hotel, and from our 3rd floor window watched hundreds of people walk up and down the Zhan Pier, and at the end, around the Huilan Pavilion whose image appears on the Tsingtao beer bottle.
It was easy to spend a couple of days strolling around the old German quarter, and the newer, modern city centre a few kilometres to the East. Between them are several excellent sandy beaches lapped by clean ocean water, and along the esplanade, wide promenades busy with families out for a walk, a spot of fishing, or to fly their kites.
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