Sailing City Qingdao
Qingdao or Tsingtao is a seaport in the province Shandong in the East of the People’s Republic China with a population of 7.3 million people. The Olympic sail regattas of the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 will take place here, at one of the few important bathing resorts in China.
Between 1897 and 1914, Qingdao was a colony under German governance. From this time there are still many buildings left, which date back to the times, when the city was still a German colony. The population of the city in 1914 was comprised of 53,312 Chinese, 2,069 Europeans and Americans, 2,400 soldiers of the garrison, 205 Japanese and 25 of other Asian heritage. At the beginning of the First World War, Qingdao was occupied by Japan. Thereupon Japanese sales and tradesmen streamed into the city. A Japanese quarter emerged and by 1920 already 17597 Japanese people settled down in Qingdao, who had the same ambition like the Germans before, to establish a pattern colony in Qingdao. Corresponding to the provisions of the treaty of Versailles, the colony remained in Japanese hand. The return to China didn’t occur until the 10th of December 1922.
Economically, Qingdao developed very quickly after the opening of China in 1978. As an open-see harbour, Qingdao is significantly important for the oil processing and goods traffic industry of the whole peninsula Shandong. The city possesses the third largest harbour of the world. Qingdao is known for the production of fish products, textiles (e.g. Jean Pierre, Hung Ling), household electronics (e.g. sharks, Hisense, Acoma) and tires (u. a. Good Year, Shuangxin). Also, the formerly German brewery Tsingtao beer is now a worldwide operating business and in the meantime has opened breweries throughout China, parts of Asia and North America.
With the decision of the Chinese Olympic organizers to appoint Qingdao as the venue for the sail regattas in 2008, the city experienced a further push. It is intended to establish Qingdao as the centre of sailing and yachting in China far beyond 2008. The long term view is to attract the sailing industry and competitive maritime sports as well as foreign business people with a strong interest in sailing and yachting, who are increasingly living and working in China.
On an area of 450,000 square meters, emerges the "Qingdao Internationally Sailing Centre", which is located next to numerous buildings on the mainland, the harbour and the regatta fields. Already in the preparation period before the games, the organizers try to establish Qingdao in the yacht sport world. A cooperation with the German sailing city of Kiel, should turn out to be very beneficial; the “Kieler Woche” annually stages the largest regatta event of the world. CSCG is represented in Qingdao with our SMS Office China.