Population: 7.62 million.

Nearest Ports: Qingdao is located on the Shandong Peninsula, along the Yellow Sea. It is the 16th largest port in the world, with a handling capacity of at least 100 million tons of cargo per year. Qingdao borders the cities of Yantai, Weifang and Rizhao.

International Airport: Yes, the Qingdao Liuting International Airport.

2009 GDP: US$64.94 billion.

Notable Foreign Investors: Alcatel-Lucent, Maersk, Mitsubishi, Haier.

Description: By 1981, Qingdao was designated as one of China’s fifteen economic center cities, and in 1984 the Chinese government named a district of Qingdao a Special Economic and Technology Development Zone (SETDZ). On October 15, 1986 it was designated as a city with provincial-level authority over economic administration. In February 1994, Qingdao became one of China's 15 sub-provincial cities. Qingdao is the center of economic development in Shangdong, concentrating on manufacturing. It has substantial investment form Korea and Japan as well.

Weather: Winter: cool, low -5℃; Summer: humid sub-tropical, high +30℃.

Fast Facts

1. Qingdao Port is the 5th busiest container port in the world, 8th biggest in China (by TEU throughput).
2. The city enjoys 730 kilometers of shallows which allow for harvest of marine products including salt, shrimp, sea cucumber, abalone, scallops and seaweed.
3. Qingdao is home to many development zones, including the Qingdao Economic and Technical Development Zone, one of the first 14 national-level economic zones approved by the Stat Council.

Qingdao, a coastal city on the peninsula of Shandong province, is one of China’s more charming and relaxing cities and a popular tourist destination - particularly famous for its annual summer international beer festival. In the business sector, Qingdao is Shandong peninsula’s most important city for commerce, and the local government is frequently praised for creating a friendly foreign investment environment.

Infrastructure
A well-developed highway system, port, and airport, make Qingdao accessible by land, air or sea. Qingdao is China’s second largest foreign trade port after Shanghai, and the nation’s largest iron ore port.

Road
The roads in Qingdao stretch over 160,000 kilometers with eleven expressways totaling 703 kilometers. Main highways include the Jinan-Qingdao, Jiaozhouwan and the Qingdao-Yinchuan expressways. As a sub-provincial-level city, Qingdao ranks first in terms of expressway traffic mileage in China. The Seaside Highway, one of the main frameworks of Qingdao’s transport system with a total length of 169 km, starts from the Kaolao Dam in the north of Jimo city and ends at 204 national highway near Liushudi Village in Jiaonan city.

Railways
The Qingdao Railway Station provides daily connections to more than 15 major cities throughout China including Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an and Chengdu. Bullet trains now run between Qingdao and the provincial capital of Jinan, 360 km away. These trains travel at a top speed of 250km/hour, and the journey now takes less than two hours, compared with 6.5 hours during the 1990s.

Airport
Qingdao Liuting International Airport is located in Chengyang District, Qingdao City, about 25 kilometers from the downtown area. Flights to more than 50 Chinese cities depart from the airport, while direct international flights to Seoul, Pusan, Tokyo, Osaka, Hong Kong and Taiwan are also available.

Port and waterways
The Port of Qingdao is a natural port and an important hub of international trade and sea-going transportation, with established trade relations with more than 90 international sea routes to over 450 ports in more than 130 countries and areas. The port handled 12.01 million standard containers in 2010, making it the eighth busiest port in the world.

As China's third largest port in terms of container throughput, Qingdao Port also operates Asia's biggest crude oil terminal and the world's top iron ore terminal. Currently seven Fortune 500 companies have established subsidiaries in the port, including Mitsubishi from Japan and ABB from Sweden. Besides its large-scale container, crude oil and iron ore facilities, the port is also equipped with a first-class coal terminal and state-of-the-art grain-handling base, and the largest EDI center in Mainland China. The port is 75 percent export-oriented, ranking first in China, and its foreign trade volume is second only to Shanghai. At present, the port has three harbors with 78 berths, including 46 10,000-plus ton berths.

Qingdao is currently building a new port area south of the current one in an area called Dongjiakou. Upon completion the annual throughput of the port is expected to reach 370 million tons. It will include the world's largest iron ore dock (400,000-ton) and oil dock (450,000-ton). The construction of the dock has commenced recently. Phase I is expected to be finished by 2015, and the entire project will be completed by 2030.

Economy and investment climate
Qingdao is the wealthiest city in Shandong and one of China’s 10 most economically performing and 10 best commercial cities. In 2010, Qingdao realized a GDP of RMB566.62 billion (up 12.9 percent). Per-capital disposable income for urban residents reached RMB24,998. In the same year, exports reached US$33.92 billion and imports reached US$23.14 billion.
Qingdao has seven pillar industries, specifically: household electrical appliances and electronics, machinery and steel, food and beverages, textiles and clothing, automobiles and locomotives, ship and ocean engineering, and petrochemicals.

Priority is being given to the development of four new industries, namely: new energy, new materials, biomedicine, and energy conservation and environmental protection. Part of the focus of the new materials program relates to synthetic rubber, the processing of which is already a major industry in its own right within the city. Qingdao is also home to the white goods giant Haier and the beer producer Tsingdao Beer; two of the strongest brands in the country and among the few that are well-known internationally.