Qingdao Old Town (Zhanqiao Pier and Badaguan)

Historic German Era Old Town And The Badaguan Villa District · Qingdao, Shandong

The red-roofed seaside old town of Qingdao, where German colonial architecture climbs the hills above a sweeping bay on the Yellow Sea. Germany seized the fishing villages here in 1897 and ruled the Kiautschou Bay concession from 1898 until Japan took it in 1914, laying out a planned European town of stone villas, churches, a governor's residence and a brewery whose beer - Tsingtao, founded in 1903 - is now known around the world. The symbol of the city is Zhanqiao Pier, a long jetty first built in 1892 and extended in 1931, ending at the octagonal Huilan Pavilion over the water, with gulls wheeling around it in winter. Behind it rise the twin spires of St. Michael's Cathedral, completed in 1934, the green-and-yellow Protestant Christ Church and the castle-like former Governor's Residence on Signal Hill. East along the coast, Badaguan - the Eight Great Passes - is a garden district of villas in dozens of European styles, with streets named after the passes of the Great Wall and each lined with a different kind of tree, ending at the granite Huashi Villa above the sea. Sandy beaches, seafood restaurants, fresh draught beer sold in plastic bags and the summer beer festival complete the scene.

Zhanqiao Pier, 14 Taiping Road, Shinan District, Qingdao, Shandong, China

Zhanqiao Pier and the Badaguan streets are open at all hours and free; churches, museums and residences keep daytime hours, roughly 8:30-17:00 (check).

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