Qingdao

Part One

My hometown, Qingdao, is a beautiful, charming, classic and modern city. It lies in the north of China and on the seashore of the Yellow Sea – part of the Pacific. It has about 8 million people living there. Some people know about my hometown because of the Tsingtao Beer that can be found in some liquor stores in Canada, and Qingdao used to be called Tsingtao.

Qingdao is a new city in China, which began in 1897 when Germany took it over. At that time, it was a very small rural area where some fishermen and their families gathered. After Germany occupied it, they built ports, factories, hospitals and churches, and Qingdao gradually became a small city. Germany also built pillboxes and there were some German soldiers resident in Qingdao. During World War I, Germany and Japan fought each other in Qingdao for control of Qingdao. In the end, Japan defeated Germany and Japan wanted to get Qingdao instead of Germany; even though China was one of the victors in the war, Japan wanted to get possession of Qingdao, and tried many methods to do so. Because of this situation, the students in Beijing held a big demonstration to ask the government to take back Qingdao. In the end, the China’s deputation in Paris refused to sign the documents that showed all German rights in Qingdao would transfer to Japan. That demonstration happened on May 4, 1919, and now May 4 is China’s Youth Day in order to commemorate the young students’ struggle for China. But during World War II, Qingdao was occupied by Japan, and it was returned to China in 1945. Since 1949, when the new China was founded, Qingdao has been developed very much especially after the 1980s. Now, it is a beautiful and modern city; however, it is still a classic city with many old buildings varying in different styles: Chinese, German, and other European countries’ styles. Now most of the old buildings are preserved and in good maintenance. After 1993, Qingdao extended to the east, so many new high buildings stand in the east of Qingdao – the new urban area; furthermore, old buildings are still standing in the west of Qingdao – the old urban area.

The next will be on soon...