Qingdao is a coastal city on the Shandong Peninsula facing the Yellow Sea, about 700 km southeast of Beijing. Germany seized it in 1897 and held it until 1914, using those 17 years to build an entire Bavarian-style city — churches, villas, a brewery, and a railway system — that still stands largely intact. The Germans also brought their brewing techniques: the Tsingtao Brewery they founded in 1903 now produces one of China's most recognised exports.
The old German concession in the south of the city is the main attraction for visitors — a neighbourhood of red-roofed European buildings including the Protestant Church and the Governor's Residence on Xinhao Hill, unlike anything elsewhere in China. Sandy beaches including No. 1 Bathing Beach along the southern seafront draw millions of Chinese holidaymakers each summer. The Tsingtao Brewery runs tours with free samples, the May Fourth Square fronts the bay, and Zhanshan Temple offers a glimpse of active Buddhist life in the pine-covered hills. Mount Lao, a Taoist sacred mountain 30 km to the east, makes a good day trip.