The old German concession occupies the hills south of the train station and is the most distinctive quarter of Qingdao. Streets of red-roofed Bavarian villas, a Protestant church with a clock tower, and a Catholic church on Zhejiang Lu create an incongruous European streetscape. The Governor's Residence (now a museum) at the top of Xinhao Hill, built in chunky Bavarian style in 1905, was later used as a retreat by Mao Zedong. The Protestant church at 15 Jiangsu Lu (1910) is still an active congregation; knocking at the door usually gets you a tour.
German Concession District
Bavarian villas and churches from Germany's 17-year colonial era
A story
Germany seized Qingdao in 1897 after the murder of two German missionaries, and held it until 1914. In those 17 years the Germans built an entire Bavarian-style city — breweries, churches, hospitals, a railway — that still stands largely intact. The Chinese call Qingdao 'China's Switzerland'.