Pictorial: Qingdao

Introduction ● City ● Sights

Can you guess where this photo was taken? Leafy suburbs, churches, elegant buildings...yes, it's Europe, or at least it was for 17 years after it was ceded to Germany in 1897. It's Qingdao, a pleasant coastal city in Shandong Province. I stopped there on the way from Dalian to Qinghai, and met up with my old friend Nishida, who is now teaching in Nanjing.

One of Nishida's old students He Zisen is a Shandonger, newly graduated and working at an export company in Qingdao. We are very grateful to him for helping us book a room in a quaint seaside hotel, treating us to some great meals, and showing us some of Qingdao's nightlife, such as the night market next to the sea. Here we all are together, drinking the famous Tsingdao (Qingdao) beer:

From left to right: He Zisen, one of his friends, Nishida, and myself.