Encountering Qingdao’s West Coast, the Last Sunrise of the First Half of the Year

Waking up early is a photographer’s greatest tribute to a city, all the more so for the last sunrise of the first half of 2020. After three days in Qingdao, the heavens finally smiled upon this visitor from the south. A purple-red sky set off fiery clouds, and a magnificent sea of fiery clouds unfolded before my eyes.

I stayed at the Wanda Vista Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis on Star Island, with the beautiful Qingdao West Coast directly across the water. The crimson sun rose right from the coastline of this national-level new area. The city, a fusion of “film capital, music island, beer city, and convention hub,” was slowly waking up.

The multi-functional Star Island, the dazzling Oriental Movie Metropolis

Many people’s impression of Qingdao still lingers on the European charm of the old town, unaware that on the other side of Jiaozhou Bay, a modern, internet-famous West Coast New Area is rising. As one of the area’s landmarks, Star Island has long become an icon of this film capital.

Star Island is hailed as the world’s ninth wonder, after Dubai’s Palm Islands, the eighth wonder. The entire island is a tourist resort, comprising luxury hotels, performance theaters, commercial facilities, and high-rise residences.

Film capital: where Qingdao cinema and world cinema converge

When it comes to the cradle of Chinese cinema, one thinks of Changchun, known as the “Hollywood of the East.” But if you seek a Chinese city that’s the same age as film, Qingdao might be the only one. On December 28, 1895, the Lumière brothers screened a film in Paris, marking the birth of world cinema. Just four years later, the sound of a projector rang out at the Prince Heinrich Hotel on Wilhelmstrasse in Qingdao. The bond between Qingdao and cinema began then, linking history and reality, carrying the dreams of this coastal city.

Late last year, I was lucky enough to visit Changchun and the Changchun Film Studio Museum built on the original site. Now in Qingdao, I was fortunate to visit the Qingdao Film Museum. One is a distillation of Chinese film history, the other a fusion of Qingdao and world film history—both excellent windows into the history of Chinese and global cinema.

Compared to the historical weight and solemnity of the Changchun museum, the Qingdao Film Museum is more modern, high-tech, and design-conscious. Here, you’ll find the earliest film projectors from a century ago, cutting-edge film technology, and a wealth of tech-driven displays that bring the long river of film history back to life. At the entrance, a cyberpunk-style loop of film slowly unfurls around the exhibition hall, instantly pulling you from reality into a world of light and sound.

The first section covers world film history. From the first projector in 1640, to the first portable box camera, to the world’s very first film—from silent to sound, from celluloid to digital—the entire history of cinema is laid out chronologically. What captivated me most was the streamlined wall covered in classic scenes from iconic films. Arranged by year, from black-and-white to color, came “Malèna,” “Kikujiro,” “Titanic,” “Hana and Alice”… familiar, beloved moments and images kept appearing, the whole history of film playing out before my eyes.

The most brilliant and enjoyable part of the exhibition was the holographic display and VR experience. The holographic projection of the Titanic hitting the iceberg was startlingly lifelike. Don the VR headset and you could swoosh down alpine ski runs or wield a lightsaber to smash obstacles… Immersive experiences that both adults and children couldn’t get enough of.

Pass through the world film history section, turn a corner, and you’re in the Qingdao film history display. In 1897, Germany occupied Qingdao, and cultures and technologies from around the world flooded in—among them the newborn medium of film. From the first film screening at the Prince Heinrich Hotel’s concert hall and China’s oldest surviving commercial cinema, the Seamen’s Club, to the cluster of cinemas on Zhongshan Road; from pioneers like Hong Shen and Hu Die to China’s first sound film “Sing-Song Girl Red Peony” – over more than a century, film has witnessed Qingdao’s growth and Qingdao has witnessed the development of cinema.

Beyond the rich history, the layout and design of the exhibition is highly creative. Important landmark buildings from Qingdao’s film history are incorporated into a sweeping curved strip, symbolizing continuity. Sun Yu, China’s first film student abroad and a poet-director, stands as an emblem of Qingdao cinema. He not only leads other famous directors and screenwriters, but a statue of him sits in the exhibition, written pages lifted by the wind and blown deep into the display.

At the far end, a map of Qingdao and film-themed pillars are specially arranged. The pillars mark Qingdao’s iconic locations, and their surfaces show films and TV series that were shot there across different eras. Presenting filming locations in such an intuitive, innovative way might be a national first.

Leaving the museum, I turned back to look at this pink castle-like building. It not only carries the history of Qingdao and world cinema but also embodies the hope and future of Qingdao’s film industry. On the mountain behind, the four characters “Oriental Movie Metropolis” have a Hollywood-like flair. Besides Qingdao, is there any other Chinese city daring enough to brandish such a bold sign?

The colorful Shell Museum: collecting the ocean’s dreams

Why did the Sydney Opera House take inspiration from a sea shell?

Why was the world’s first submarine called the Nautilus?

What does the shell that the goddess Venus used to comb her hair look like?

Before visiting the Qingdao Shell Museum in the West Coast New Area, I couldn’t have answered a single one of these questions. This underground museum, with an unassuming exterior, houses an astonishing array of shell specimens and fossils. Even more striking is the vast knowledge system behind these exhibits.

We were greeted by the museum’s executive director, Li Zongjian. Not only is he a national “Top Ten Science Communicator,” but the museum’s livestreams he runs are hugely popular. Straight to the point, after a brief self-introduction, he literally tucked himself into the giant shell at the entrance. I thought it was just an artificial sculpture, but it turned out to be real: the giant clam, known as the “king of seashells.” Over a meter long, it easily held an adult and was remarkably sturdy.

Inside, the first thing you see is China’s largest beach-style T-stage. Beneath the glass runway, sand and shells are scattered, making you feel like you’re walking by the sea. On both sides are shell specimen displays, ornamental shell areas, a children’s interactive zone, a science popularization section, a shell product display, and a shellfish biology research institute – six parts in all. Over 4,260 species are represented, from giant clams over a meter long to tiny sand shells visible only under a magnifying glass. You could say it holds the entire ocean’s dreams.

When people think of shells, many first think of scallops, clams, abalone, oysters—delicacies on the dining table. But in fact, shells represent not just marine life and ecology; they can build bridges with 23 disciplines including astronomy, geography, physics, chemistry, mathematics, aesthetics, and bionics.

Director Li picked up a nautilus fossil, held it to his ear and gently shook it. You could faintly hear water inside, but not a drop could be poured out. Sliced open, it revealed spiral chambers like tiny rooms where water is stored, able to be preserved for centuries without drying up. As each chamber fills with water, the nautilus descends; as water is expelled, it rises. Based on this structure and principle, the first submarine was invented and named the Nautilus. In “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” Captain Nemo’s ship is also the Nautilus.

Beyond buoyancy, these chambers symbolize the nautilus’s age. Each chamber corresponds to a year, much like tree rings. Its internal spiral is even more fascinating. Under magnification, you see it’s composed of 30 layers. One layer forms each day, with the tides, completing a month’s growth. By dissecting nautiluses of different ages, you can find some with as few as 9 layers. This suggests that in the distant past, a month had only 9 days—a finding that aligns perfectly with astronomical changes in the moon’s revolution. Nature’s magic is truly breathtaking.

The nautilus gets its name from its beak-like shape. Similarly, many shells are named for their resemblance to everyday objects. The one that looks like an onion is the onion shell; like bamboo shoot, the bamboo shoot shell; like taro, the taro shell; like a wheel, the wheel shell; like a spiral slide, the spiral stair shell… The one covered in spines is the Venus comb murex, said to have been used by the goddess Venus to comb her hair. Listening to Director Li’s vivid explanations while seeing the actual shells opened my eyes wide, even for someone who thought they knew a fair bit.

Besides culinary uses, shells are best known as natural trumpets. In the innermost exhibition hall, Director Li showed us how to turn one of the world’s four famous shells, the giant triton, into an amplifier. A tiny Bluetooth speaker had a soft sound, but placed inside the triton, it instantly gained a resonant effect. Humans discovered this property long ago, and triton shells were often used as war horns in ancient armies.

Finally, we reached the depths of the exhibition hall, before a solitary display cabinet housing a football-sized shell. This, it’s said, is the museum’s crowning treasure—the Gōnshūji Temple Slit Shell (Entemnotrochus rumphii)! Just the name hints at its significance, daring to borrow the Dragon King’s palace. It’s the largest of the slit shells, with a diameter of about 10–23 cm. Only around 300 specimens exist in museums and private collections worldwide, and its value exceeds 6 million yuan!

Certainly, walking through the entire Qingdao West Coast New Area Shell Museum, every shell tells a story, and every sea snail is a universe of knowledge. Through these tiny shells, we traversed continents and oceans, spanning time and history.

Phoenix by the Golden Beach: beer, seafood, and sea breezes

When it comes to the sea and beaches in northern China, many shake their heads. Who would think that this coastal city of Qingdao boasts a strip called the “Best Beach in Asia” – Golden Beach? The water is clear, the sand flat and fine as powder, soft underfoot. Even better, here you can realize the dream of feasting on seafood, downing cold beer, while feeling the sea breeze and gazing at the azure sea.

On the map, Golden Beach curves like a crescent moon. At this time of year, it’s not too crowded, not too hot, and few are swimming. In another half month, it’ll likely be packed again. We arrived at dusk as the tide ebbed, revealing the offshore reefs. Standing on the rocks and looking out to sea, you get a feeling akin to “standing on the eastern rocks to behold the vast ocean.” In fact, getting off at the Beer City, you can see from afar a building like a phoenix spreading its wings. This pure white, flight-ready phoenix has a lovely name – The Voice of the Phoenix. As a symbol of the West Coast’s “Music Island,” it hosts countless musicals and dramas every year, echoing with the Golden Conch Theatre on Star Island.

You can’t come to Qingdao without beer, and the same goes for Golden Beach. The Golden Beach Beer City has hosted the Qingdao Beer Festival for five consecutive years. Though impacted by the pandemic this year, on the second weekend of August, the grand beer carnival will still take place by the shore. This 15-day extravaganza is not only widely known and influential at home and abroad but is also hailed as Asia’s largest beer celebration. Right at the entrance of Beer City, the sculpture “Qingdao Toasts the World” sets the tone – you can feel the strong beer atmosphere and the warmth of Qingdao’s people. Here, you can enjoy all kinds of beer, visit a beer culture museum, and check out a creative shop called Not a Bookstore.

Its name is Not a Bookstore, and indeed it’s not a proper bookstore. Besides books, it offers coffee, milk tea, snacks, desserts, and a host of local Qingdao creative products. In the local dialect, drinking alcohol is pronounced “ha jiu,” which spawned the brand “Ha Jiu” and a whole line of cultural merchandise. Phone cases, keychains, cups, T-shirts… the two adorable cartoon characters, a boy and a girl, have won hearts and become ambassadors for Qingdao beer.

If you’re interested in beer culture, the Beer Culture Museum here is your paradise. From the ancient Egyptians discovering the brewing process, to the Code of Hammurabi recording beer, to medieval monks brewing it, and finally to modern mature brewing techniques – a timeline threads together the entire history. Four themes – world beer history, common brewing processes, beer culture in daily life, and beer’s history and emotional resonance in Qingdao – crystallize the evolution and essence of world beer culture.

Talking without action is pointless, and looking without drinking is equally so. Six glasses of beer, ranging from light to dark – golden, amber, brownish red, to black – represent six different varieties, flavors, and brewing methods. Having a glass of each, from light to strong body, I found dark beer the most to my liking.

By the Mangrove Tree Coral Hotel, the brilliantly lit chapel lets you soak up exotic charm; on the purple flower seas of Cangma Mountain, galloping on horseback to share life’s splendor; amid the bustle of Huangtuzhuang, relishing the joy of big bites of meat and big gulps of drink… Three days on Qingdao’s West Coast were short but fulfilling. Even though the pandemic’s shadow hasn’t fully lifted, everything is like that last sunrise of the first half of the year – everything is rising, everything is heading in a good direction. Looking forward to the Qingdao Beer Festival in a month, to setting foot again on this land of countless surprises, to reveling in the beer, and to discovering more of its unique beauty.