With preparations in full flow for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a lot of international media attention is being lavished on that city.
Getting rather less attention is the coastal city of Qingdao, though you can expect that to change pretty soon. Beijing isn't actually on the coast, so all the events that require some ocean - sailing, beach volleyball, that kind of thing - is being shifted over to Qingdao, as are all swimming events.
It's a great city, though not one that is really well-known to outsiders. That's odd, as its one of the most Europeanized cities in the Far East. From the late nineteenth century onwards, the city was one of the centers of the German trade network in the far east - an enterprise that led to considerable profits for the government of Imperial Germany, and laid the foundation of the alliance between Germany and Japan in World War II. The German influence was based on the city's location at the heart of the Jiaozhou Bay Concession, an area of land that the Chinese emperors made over to German merchants to effectively govern in exchange for trading rights and taxes. This kind of arrangement may see a little odd to us today, but the Chinese have never been short of land or people, and renting the two out has often been a profitable source of income. The very last concession was, of course, Hong Kong, which was only handed back to central Chinese authority in 1997.
As such, the center of the Qingdao is an intriguing mix of Chinese vernacular and German architectural styles. Brutalist communist buildings are in evidence, but in general the lines are softer and more European than many other Chinese cities of comparable size. The city lies on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula, which itself juts into the Yellow Sea, dead opposite the Korean peninsula.
One of the things that Qingdao is justifiably famous for is its beer. Tsingtao beer, a light European lager-style beer is exported all over the world and commands a growing market within China itself. Tsingtao's European taste shouldn't be a surprise - it is essentially a Pilsner, first brewed by Germans in the city and popularized by the huge expat population. The brand is still going strong - and a cold bottle or two may be just the thing to keep you fresh while you're watching the beach volleyball!