Hotels in Qingdao, China

A little about Qingdao...

Qingdao is a sub-provincial city in eastern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It borders Yantai to the northeast, Weifang to the west and Rizhao to the southwest. Lying across the Shandong Peninsula while looking out to the Yellow Sea, Qingdao today is a major seaport, naval base, and industrial center. It is also the site of the Tsingtao Brewery. The character (q?ng) in Chinese means "green" or "lush," while the character (dǎo) means "island." It was recently named China's 9th-most livable city by China Daily.

Rail - Qingdao's railway development was picked up during the late 1990s. It is at the beginning of the Jiaoji Railway. Qingdao's city proper has some major railway stations, Qingdao Station, Sifang Station, Cangkou Station, Great-Seaport Station, etc. At the present, domestic rail lines connect Qingdao with Beijing, Lanzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Jinan, Jining and so on. There are a total of 1,145km of roads in the Qingdao area, with nearly 500km of expressways. Expressways connect Qingdao with Jinan. The specially designed high-altitude railcars required for the Qingzang railway, the highest railway in the world, are also built in Qingdao.

Bus & Trolleybuses - Qingdao's public traffic owns about 4,500 large and medium-sized diesel buses, CNG buses and trolleybuses, operating 193 routes. All of these buses and trolleybuses can be accessed using the Qingdao Public Traffic IC Card, which uses radio frequencies so the card dœs not have to physically touch the scanner. The volume of road passenger transport approaches 0.8 billion per year. The lengths of highways on operation are 14,326 km, including 700km Expressways. At the present, the traffic mileage is more than 6.02 billion km per year. The Public Transport Brand of 'Ri-Xi Bus' is also known in China.

Taxis - Taxis are a useful and convenient way to get around Qingdao. The main models are Santana and Jetta. Also, there's a small number of Passat and Red Flag. The colour for cars of Yiqing Company is dark red, Zhongqing Company is mint green, Jiaoyun Company is fashion green, Huaqing Company is sky blue and others is fortune green.

Language - A distinctive local accent known as "Qingdao Dialect(Qingdao Hua)" distinguishes the residents of the city from those of the surrounding province, and even Shandong Province. Due to the efforts by the city government to popularize Mandarin, most educated people can now speak that. With reform policies and English teaching, most young citizens can communicate with foreigners in English. Business and traffic marks in English are becoming more and more common. Road signs cannot be in foreign languages because of the law, but the pinyin will do some help.

Cuisine - Seafood is a typical delicacy of the coastal city, divided into 2 categories: one is called "Great Seafood" includes sea cucumbers, abalones, shark's fin, prawns, carbs, conch, and some big fish; the other is called "Little Seafood" includes squid, shrimps, octopus, oysters, razor clams, clams, perwinkles, yellow croakers, etc. Generally, fresh seafood is served in every hotel. The distinctive cuisine is Lu Cai, the Shandong regional style.

Tourism: Qingdao attracts many tourists due to its seaside setting and temperate weather. Parks, beaches, sculpture and some unique architecture line the shore. For more information head over to the Qingdao Information Centre for International Visitors located on Mid-Hong Kong Road(Xinggang Zhong Lu). Qingdao's major attractions include:

Zhan Qiao (loading pier) pier is at the tip of Qingdao Bay off Zhongshan road. This 440 meter (1,443.6ft) strip that stretches into the sea and was the first wharf in Qingdao.

Ba Da Guan (The eight passes) is a major tourist-attraction close to the coast of Qingdao. It's made up of eight streets named after the eight great military forts of the ancient times. Along the streets are many classic European houses built when Qingdao was a German protectorate (1897-1914).

May Fourth Square (Wusi Guangchang) is a large public square in Qingdao's central business district. It is located between the new municipal government building and Fushan Bay and is composed of Shizhengting Square, the central square and the coastal park. Named after the nationwide protest movement that started in Qingdao, the square is best recognized by the large "May Wind" (Wuyue Feng) sculpture near the seaside. The square is a popular tourist destination, and is bordered by the city government to the north, the sea to the south, and residential and commercial buildings on either side. On pleasant days May Fourth Square fills with young couples on the ground and kites in the air.

Post-secondary educational institutions
Ocean University of China (formerly Ocean University of Qingdao), the primary university of the specialty in China
Petroleum University of China, Qingdao campus
Qingdao University
Qingdao University of Science and Technology
Qingdao Technological University
Shandong University of Economics and Trade
Qingdao Hotel and Management College
Qingdao Agricultural University