Qingdao

Qingdao City is located at the southwestern tip of the Shandong Peninsular, and borders the Yellow Sea on the east and south. Under its jurisdiction there are seven districts and five county-level cities. Qingdao is a beautiful coastal city and is reputed as the Bright Pearl in the Huanghai River, and the Oriental Switzerland.

Qingdao City is the birthplace of Chinese Taoism.

With charming and gentle natural scenery, rich and elegant human culture and historic sites, Qingdao is a famous summer resort for travelers and holidaymakers. The time-honored city was inhabited by the Dongyi tribe as early as in the Neolithic Age five to six thousand years ago. The primitive inhabitants left many cultural relics, and the known ones include 12 sites of Dawenkou Culture and Laoshan Culture.

Qingdao has not only a long history but also numerous scenic spots and historic sites. Among them, famous ones include the Sanlihe Site, the Dongyue Site, the Langya Terrance, the Tombs of Five Hundred Martyrs in Tianheng, Laoshan Mountain, the Palace for the Queen of the Heaven, the stone statues of the Northern Dynasty (386-581), and so on.

Qingdao was proclaimed as a national level historical and cultural city by the State Council in 1994.

The city has a temperate maritime climate with a frost-free period of 251 days. The average temperature in summer is about 20°C to 28°C. Its golden tourism season lasts from the end of March to the early November. Especially in the last ten days of August, the seawater is quite warm, making the city a golden period for seaside tour. In winter, it is quite cold in Qingdao. If you have a strong body and enough courage, you may try to have a winter swim in the water below zero Celsius degree.