5 Days in Beautiful Qingdao

Qingdao – Fourth Stop on the 2023 Autumn Bohai Sea Tour

Prologue: The main cities on this Bohai Sea trip: Dalian (including Lüshun), Yantai (including Penglai), Weihai, Qingdao, Jinan, and Tai'an. The journey spanned late October to early November, a total of 22 days.

Day 1: Catholic Church – Signal Hill Park – Christ Church – Lao She's Former Residence – Daxue Road Instagram-Wall – Taidong Pedestrian Street

First stop: the Catholic Church, officially St. Michael's Cathedral. St. Michael is an angel in the Bible who defeated the devil and protects humanity. Completed in 1934, the church is a blend of Gothic and Romanesque styles, with two 60-meter bell towers flanking the building, each topped by a 4.5-meter giant cross. The facade is carved with clean, flowing motifs – solemn, graceful, and understatedly elegant.

Statue of the Virgin Mary and side door [Photo]

The main hall is rectangular, seating a thousand people, with a soaring 18-meter ceiling. Standing inside, you feel tiny – perhaps that contrast inspires reverence for the divine. The interior is Italian Renaissance in style; the dome, walls, and stained-glass windows are painted with exquisite religious scenes, a hallmark of this type of architecture.

A confessional, also called a confession booth or seat, is a small room for the sacrament of confession. It’s probably the kind of place where, in movies, someone confesses all day until the priest can’t take it anymore and says, “Your sins are too many; this church is too small to hold them.”

Right opposite the church is the “Anna Villa,” built in 1903, a beautiful Baroque building with over a hundred years of history.

Lantana flowers still bloom gracefully in front of the villa.

Next stop: Signal Hill Park. This European-style park is not only a lovely spot for flowers and greenery but the best place in the city to climb a hill and take in the view. During the German occupation, a signal station was built on the hilltop, with flags and symbols hoisted, so locals called it “Flag Hill” or “Flag Terrace Hill.” In 1923, it was officially named Signal Hill. At 98 meters high, the park features charming pavilions and winding stone paths under shady trees, creating a tranquil garden atmosphere.

The red-domed mushroom-shaped tower at the top has beautiful murals inside. [Photo]

It’s also a revolving observation deck. Gaze into the distance, and the whole of Qingdao unfolds before you – the iconic Zhanqiao Pier, islands, and the sea complement each other, the red roofs and green trees, blue sea and sky, a panorama of mountain and water.

The setting sun cast a warm golden light on the distant buildings.

Not far west of the park is Christ Church, completed in 1910. A typical German fortress-style building, it has a solid, rugged look with clean lines. The thick walls, semi-circular granite window frames, steep red roof, and green spire all give it a distinctive religious beauty. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to go inside.

Walking through the streets of Qingdao, ancient, sturdy trees whisper history. [Photo]

European-style buildings are everywhere.

Painted wall on Hengshan Road.

Passed by Lao She’s Former Residence, also known as the Camel Xiangzi Museum. This is where Mr. Lao She, while teaching at Shandong University in 1934, wrote the novel “Camel Xiangzi.” A simple, unadorned house, just like the great writer himself. [Photo]

Xiaowu Grocery Store and café. [Photo]

The Instagram-famous wall on Daxue Road.

Taidong Pedestrian Street night market and oyster omelette.

Day 2: Zhanqiao Pier – Qinyu Road – Little Qingdao Island – Lu Xun Park – Xiaoyushan Scenic Area – Badaguan Scenic Area – May Fourth Square

Early morning at Zhanqiao Pier, located on the north side of Qingdao Bay, facing Little Qingdao Island across the water. Built in 1891, it’s known as the “Long Rainbow Reaching Far.”

East of Zhanqiao Square, I passed the Lu Zuo Museum, a private paid museum mainly exhibiting precious Ming and Qing furniture and art.

The Naval Museum – China’s only military museum dedicated to naval development. Covering 141.1 mu of land and 225 mu of sea, it has indoor, maritime, and outdoor exhibition areas, displaying warships (Yangtze, Anshan, Jinan, etc.), amphibious vehicles and tanks, aircraft (fighters, bombers, helicopters, seaplanes), coastal defense equipment, and more. A must-see for military enthusiasts. Unfortunately, several primary schools were having patriotic education activities that day, so it was very crowded, and I didn’t go inside.

North and south entrances of the museum [Photo]

From Qinyu Road, you can see the maritime ship exhibition area: hull number 531 is the Yingtan, China’s first domestically built air-defense frigate and a meritorious ship in the South China Sea battle. Hull number 101 is the Anshan, a destroyer acquired from the Soviet Union, once the flagship of the Pacific Fleet.

Romantic Qinyu Road.

Westward is Little Qingdao Island, originally called Qingdao, known as “Akna Island” during the German occupation. Its shape resembles a guqin, so it’s also called “Qin Island” (Music Island). Some say the waves against the shore sound like a zither, hence the name. It’s the origin of the city’s name and a symbol of Qingdao.

Beautiful red reefs and crashing waves. [Photo]

Sitting by the sea, the rhythmic sound of the surf washes away tiredness and instantly opens your heart.

After the German occupation, a lighthouse was built around 1900 on the island and later reconstructed after liberation. It’s 15.5 meters tall, white, and at night its light shimmers on the water, dreamlike, forming one of Qingdao’s great sights – “Floating Light at Qin Island.”

The park is lush with trees, steeped in antiquity.

Amidst lovely greenery and flowers, the statue of the Qin Maiden looks graceful and enchanting.

East of Qinyu Road is Lu Xun Park, a distinctive seaside park. Red reefs, blue water, green pines, winding paths, and pavilions create a scene that is both landscaped and naturally beautiful.

North of Lu Xun Park is Xiaoyushan (Little Fish Hill), a 4A scenic area. At 60 meters above sea level, the hill isn’t high but offers superb views. From the top, you can see a string of coastal sights: Signal Hill, Badaguan, Zhanqiao Pier, Lu Xun Park, the beach, and more – all the beauty of the front sea.

On the hill stands the “Wave-Viewing Pavilion,” an 18-meter-high octagonal three-story building. Walking around it, you drink in the “blue sky, blue sea, green hills, green trees, red roofs, yellow walls.” On either side are “Blue Wave Pavilion” and “Embracing Green Pavilion.”

The park’s design follows the terrain, blending pavilions, terraces, and corridors harmoniously – nature, garden, and architecture in one. This is the cultural corridor and a ceramic mural “The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea.” [Photo]

In the afternoon, I headed to Badaguan Scenic Area. The name “Badaguan” (Eight Passes) comes from the eight (actually ten) roads named after famous Great Wall passes: Zijingguan Road, Ningwuguan Road, Shaoguan Road, and cross streets like Wushengguan Road, Jiayuguan Road, Hanguguan Road, Zhengyangguan Road, Linhuaiguan Road, Juyongguan Road, and Shanhaiguan Road. This is a famous villa district, featuring architectural styles from over 20 countries including Russia, Britain, France, Germany, America, Japan, and Denmark. It’s known as the “Museum of World Architecture” and best embodies Qingdao’s “red roofs, green trees, blue sea, and blue sky.”

The former Soviet citizen's residence and a simple little white building. [Photo]

Most of these buildings were constructed in the 1930s, with a few from the German period. From 1931 to 1937, when Shen Honglie was mayor, building density was kept under 50%, green spaces protected, and see-through fences encouraged, giving the area a very different feel from typical Chinese cities: large lawns, lush trees, a perfect fusion of park and courtyard.

Golden fallen leaves and a pretty flower wall. [Photo]

Urban sculptures and landscape vignettes. [Photo]

Here, architecture and environment merge, East meets West, classical and modern complement each other. Walking through Badaguan feels like passing through a corridor of history, glimpsing memories of time. Its unique tranquility and romantic charm captivate countless visitors.

Evening at May Fourth Square, a modern plaza combining landscaping, fountains, and sculpture, one of Qingdao’s landmarks. Named after the May Fourth Movement, its iconic sculpture “Wind of May” is 27 meters in diameter, about 30 meters tall, entirely red, shaped like a torch, symbolizing the movement as the spark that ignited the new democratic revolution.

Brilliant Chinese roses.

As dusk fell, lights began to twinkle on the distant skyscrapers.

Day 3: Laoshan – Yangkou Scenic Area (Taiping Palace – Lion Peak – Shangyuan – Immortal Peach – Longevity Character Peak – Mìtian Cave – Tianyuan) – Qingshan Fishing Village – Huayan Scenic Area (Faxian Square – Huazang Gate – Huayan Temple – Stupa Yard)

As a child, I watched the cartoon “The Taoist from Laoshan” and developed a deep fascination with the mountain, imagining it a place full of mystery where immortals could be met.

Laoshan is indeed extraordinary. A 5A-level historic and cultural mountain, it stands by the sea, majestic, with ever-changing mists and clouds. It is the renowned immortal mountain on the sea, known as the “Greatest Mountain on the Sea.” A local saying goes: “Mount Tai may be high, but it can’t compare to East Sea’s Laoshan.” Since ancient times, it’s been praised as “the abode of immortals and spirits.” [Photo]

Laoshan was formed in the Cretaceous period hundreds of millions of years ago. Millennia of transformation and natural sculpting have created a landscape that is grand, spectacular, unique, and beautiful. Its main peak, “Jufeng” (Giant Peak), rises 1,132.7 meters, and the range radiates outward from it. The eastern and southern parts hug the sea, forming a unique combination of mountains and sea, with deep valleys and stunning scenery.

Laoshan has typical granite glacial landforms. Erosion and weathering have shaped its rocks into countless fantastic forms – rugged, jagged, and oddly shaped. It’s known as a “Natural Sculpture Park,” with sword-like peaks, towering crags, and bizarre rock formations.

Covering 446 square kilometers, Laoshan’s core scenic spots include Jufeng, Taiqing, Huayan, Yangkou, and Jiushui. I chose Yangkou in the northeast for its easier climb and concentration of mountains, sea, and Taoist temples. Yangkou leans against the immortal peaks and faces the blue Huanghai Sea, with Taiping Palace and a bay beach as highlights. It has a long history and is known as a fairyland, famous for eight sights including Huagai Greeting Guests, the Palace on the Sea, Taiping Dawn Bell, Lion Peak Sunrise, Youlong Dao Scripture, Immortal Longevity Peak, Mìtian Cave, and Tianyuan Overlook.

Huagai Greeting Guests and the Palace on the Sea [Photo]

Laoshan is an important cradle of Taoism, hailed as “the Second Jungle of Quanzhen Taoism under Heaven.” At its peak, it had “nine palaces, eight temples, and seventy-two nunneries.” Wang Chongyang, Qiu Chuji, and Zhang Sanfeng all practiced Taoism here. The first main attraction on the ascent is Taiping Palace, built in the Northern Song dynasty (961), a Quanzhen Huashan sect temple.

Inside are sites like Youlong Cave, Bailong Cave, Sheep Rock, Hunyuan Rock, and Lion Peak – the foundational places where Laoshan Taoism flourished.

Sheep Rock and Lion Peak [Photo]

Hunyuan Rock [Photo]

“A mountain is famous not for its height but for its immortals.” Laoshan has long been known as a “divine grotto and immortal dwelling.” Scholars and poets visited and left many poems and inscriptions, either passed down orally or carved in stone, enriching the mountain’s cultural legacy and spreading its fame far and wide.

Lion Peak Sunrise and a poem: “In the east dawn’s light gradually encroaches, birds startle and fly, their calls fill the woods. A thousand bands of rosy clouds weave brocade in the sky, mighty waves surge with molten gold. Fish and dragons transform by uncanny skill; such landscape wonders captivate the wanderer’s heart. I guess the dusty world hasn’t woken yet; all beings are still deep in their dreams.” By Qing-dynasty scholar Sun Fengyun.

Poem carved on “Climbing Lion Peak” by Ming-dynasty jinshi and imperial censor Lan Tian: “Sitting on the high peak facing the sea, evening rain soughs, cold as autumn. Tide ebbs and flows, heaven and earth grow old; moon waxes and wanes, through ages sorrow lingers. When will the golden elixir fulfil its promise? The blue sea delights me, may I stay awhile. Who understands the wish to wander afar? Let me buy a skiff from a fisherman.” Calligraphy by Jiang Weisong in cursive script.

Inscriptions: “Gentle Breeze, Light Clouds / Everlasting Country and Mountains,” dated the Dingchou year (possibly 1937, raising thoughts of the war). And an engraved motto: “The highest goodness is like water.”

A narrow “Skyline” cleft and “Yinbin Cave” (Yinbin means “respectfully guide” from the Book of Documents: “respectfully guiding the sunrise”).

“Youlong Cave” and engravings: “It’s said Laozi once passed here, later came Huang Shigong north of the Ji River” (from Gu Yanwu’s long poem “Song of Laoshan”).

“Shangyuan Fairyland” and “Shangyuan Poem” by Ming-dynasty Yang Ze: “In Shangyuan, pines array like formations, halfway up, palaces cluster solemnly. Deep rocky caves jagged and steep, layers of flowers piled like hairpins. Cliffs tattoo with lichen scripts, horned crags echo with bird songs. Beneath the Immortal Bridge, water resounds like the plucked strings of a lute.”

Climbing to watch the sea, misty and boundless, water and sky merge. When wind and waves rise, breakers pound the shore, muddy billows surge, spray erupting like jade, roaring thunderously. From ancient to modern times, all have praised Laoshan as a “Marvel of Mountain and Sea.”

Awaiting Immortal Rock and the stone carving “Marvel of Mountain and Sea”

Immortal Peach scenic spot, with a giant boulder shaped like a longevity peach.

Longevity Character Peak. The main character stands 20 meters high and 16 meters wide, the largest “Longevity” (寿) in China, taken from Tang calligrapher Ouyang Xun.

Distant view of Longevity Character Peak.

Mìtian Cave is formed by massive boulders wedged in a crevice between cliffs. The cave spirals upward nearly a hundred meters; geologically, it’s a “fissure collapse fill cave.” Looking up from the entrance, stacked boulders form a tight gap, towering like a fortress. Here, rock walls press close, the sky seems narrowed. To explore, you must climb from bottom to top, seeking the vast heavens above – hence the name “Mìtian Cave” (Seeking Heaven Cave).

Its structure is unique: multi-layered inside, winding, thrilling, and disorienting. In the narrowest spots, you scrape sideways; where the ceiling drops, you bend and crawl. Some sections have vertical cliffs where you ascend iron ladders. It alternates between pitch darkness where you can’t see your hand, and sudden daylight that makes you think you’ve reached the exit, only to cross stone-beam suspension bridges and plunge back into the cave. It’s a playful gauntlet requiring ducking, crawling, squeezing, stepping across, and contorting, using hands and feet. The fun lies in the peril, and since you can only go forward, it moves slowly, often forcing you to queue. So if you’re pressed for time, portly, or elderly, I suggest skipping this route.

Emerging from the cave, the view suddenly opens up. Peaks are piled like jade, pines and cypresses lush, and autumn leaves are enchanting.

Five Fingers Rock and Divine Turtle Rock

Further on is Yangkou’s highest point: Tianyuan. Standing here, looking out at the mountains and sea, peaks cluster, mist swirls, majestic and grand. Laoshan’s scenery truly does not disappoint.

After visiting Tianyuan Peak, I took the cable car down, then a bus to Qingshan Fishing Village. As expected, my travel plan hit a snag. The bus stopped at Huayan Temple, and I recalled seeing Huayan Scenic Area on my ticket. Could I enter with my Yangkou ticket? I called the scenic area, and learned that Laoshan’s ticket covers all scenic areas, with the only difference being whether it includes the shuttle bus! This wasn’t explained in any guide or during ticket purchase; even the staff wasn’t entirely sure – they had to call me back after double-checking. I’d thought I could only visit Yangkou today and had only planned for Qingshan Village in the afternoon. This sudden news rearranged my schedule. It was already 2 p.m., so Taiqing was too far and had to be abandoned. I quickly checked out Qingshan Village, then headed to Huayan.

Qingshan Fishing Village, known as the most beautiful fishing village. Houses cling to the mountain by the sea, red roofs and white walls tiered together. From a high viewpoint, Laoshan winds into the sea. [Photo]

Qingshan Bay, rippling blue, and the village nestled in greenery, like stepping into a “mountain-sea fairyland.”

At Huayan Scenic Area’s square stands a statue of Master Faxian, the first Chinese monk to travel west for scriptures – more than two hundred years before Xuanzang. In 399 AD, at age 66, the Eastern Jin monk Faxian set out westward from Chang’an, through the Hexi Corridor, across the “death-marked by bones” Gobi desert, over the snow-covered Pamirs, into India and Sri Lanka to seek Buddhist texts. In 412 AD, at 79, he returned by sea, landing at Laoshan in what is now Qingdao.

Huazang World Gate

Statues of Samantabhadra and Manjushri Bodhisattvas.

Buddhism in Laoshan began in the Wei and Jin dynasties, flourished in the Sui, Tang, and Ming. Huayan Temple is surrounded by hills on three sides and faces the sea to the east; it’s the only surviving Buddhist temple in Laoshan. It has a long history of rises and falls. Built during the Ming Chongzhen reign (1628–1644) by Huang Zongchang of Jimo, it was called Huayan Nunnery or Huayan Chan Monastery. In the early Qing, Huang Tan helped Master Cizhan rebuild it on the present site; in 1931, it got its current name. The temple gate bears three golden characters: “Huayan Temple.”

Guanyin Hall and Tianwang Pavilion

The main hall is the Three Saints Hall, enshrining the “Huayan Three Saints”: Shakyamuni Buddha, Manjushri, and Samantabhadra.

Outside the mountain gate is a stupa yard with a nine-tier brick pagoda, the tomb of Cizhan, the temple’s first abbot. Two old pines embrace the stupa, hence “Pines Embracing the Pagoda.”

The scenic area is densely wooded, tranquil and serene.

More stone inscriptions and tablets: “Magnificent Journey” and “Watching Waves”

Engravings: “Mist-High, Cloud-Lofty” and “Huafeng Blessed Land”

“Soaring Clouds,” “Zen,” “Karma”

By now it was late, and I couldn’t make it to Narayana Grotto. “Narayana” means “firm and solid” in Sanskrit. Legend has it that King Narayana meditated and practiced in this cave, then with divine power rose up and broke through the solid granite layers, attaining Buddhahood and ascending. Monks revere it as a sacred site, calling it “the abode of immortals” and “the world’s second-greatest grotto.”

I left Laoshan with a reluctant heart, three scenic areas left unexplored. I especially long to see Jufeng and Taiqing. I’m sure I’ll return to this beautiful sea-bound immortal mountain to enjoy its splendor.

Day 4: Zhongshan Park – Qingdao Botanical Garden – Guangxi Road Architecture (Post and Telecommunications Museum, Red House) – Badaxia Square – Qingdao Art Museum – Tianhou Palace (Folk Culture Museum)

Zhongshan Park has a long history, founded in the early 1900s. Surrounded by hills on three sides and facing the sea to the south, it borders Taiping Mountain to the east and connects with the botanical garden. An autumn chrysanthemum exhibition was underway, with flowers vying in beauty.

The park is vast with dense, lush trees. Few people, fresh air – leisurely and pleasant.

A lovable God of Longevity statue, his face rubbed smooth by countless touches. Beside it, the Huìqián Village site, known as “the root of the park” – a small fishing village dating back to the Ming dynasty.

Spotted laurel and reeds.

From the park’s north gate, you can see the TV tower.

Then to Qingdao Botanical Garden, which seemed a bit faded. The bonsai garden was empty, only a few hydrangeas still blooming hard.

This small building was quite beautiful, said to be a French-style villa designed for Russians, free-spirited and romantic.

Passed by Zhanshan Temple, the only Buddhist temple in the city proper. Started in 1934 and completed in 1945, its scenic area includes a Medicine Buddha Pagoda backed by hills and facing the sea, with shimmering water and swaying trees – one of Qingdao’s “Ten Scenes,” known as “Zhanshan Pure Brahma.”

“Red roofs, green trees, blue sea, blue sky” – that’s Qingdao’s unique city aesthetic. Guangxi Road, with its numerous and well-preserved modern European buildings, exudes a romantic, elegant exotic atmosphere. It’s a vital cultural heritage of the city’s memory. I especially love the red buildings here. One is the former Imperial German Post Office, now the Qingdao Post and Telecommunications Museum. Built in 1901, it’s a wooden twin-tower Gothic structure and the earliest surviving post office building in Qingdao.

The other is the Red House Art Museum (also the Laoshan Spring Water 1900 Museum) and Red House Musician, considered Qingdao’s most beautiful German Jugendstil buildings. Constructed in 1905, they feature a striking red brick palette, displaying a gorgeous retro beauty.

After a hundred years of wind and rain, time changes. Today’s Guangxi Road is serene and peaceful. Layers of European roofs dance among lush greenery, refreshing the spirit. Strolling and admiring the buildings on both sides, each with its own style and character, the different streetscapes and lanes blend so harmoniously.

Badaxia Park, west of Zhanqiao Pier, got its name because the area’s eight roads are named after eight gorges, echoing the famous “Badaguan” to the east and vying in beauty. In fact, there are ten gorges: Wuxia, Xiling, Qutang, Liujia, Longyang, Qingtong, Hongshan, Mingyue, Sanmen, and Guanyin Gorges. It’s a coastal area; walking along the shore, you can take in the full seaside scenery.

In the afternoon, I visited Qingdao Art Museum. Originally the site of the “Wanzi Hui” (World Red Swastika Society), it features a three-courtyard layout blending three distinct architectural styles: Roman colonnade, Chinese palace, and Arabian. The Wanzi Hui was the society’s founding organization, rooted in the Daoyuan and advocating “the unity of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam.” It was a religiously tinged charity group and the first large-scale modern civil charitable organization in China, originating in Jinan. It disbanded in 1953.

Chinese-style side halls and main hall galleries

The museum mainly exhibits oil paintings, watercolors, etc. The different building styles coexist harmoniously, and the courtyard is elegant.

Chinese pavilion and Roman colonnade-style exhibition hall

Nearby, the former residence of Tong Dizhou.

I passed a distinctive green building and the Qingdao People’s Auditorium.

Tianhou Palace (Folk Culture Museum) was originally built in the Ming Chenghua period (1467) under the name “Tianfei Palace,” renamed “Tianhou Palace” in the Qing Kangxi period (1684). With over 500 years of history, it’s an antique Ming-Qing brick-and-wood courtyard complex with two courtyards. There’s a theater stage, bell tower, drum tower, and other double-eave buildings. In the rear courtyard, the main hall is Tianhou Hall, flanked by side halls, rooms, and a gate.

Few visitors here. Ancient trees, swimming fish, a golden bell and qilin, an elegant setting. Unfortunately, the museum was under renovation during my visit, so I didn’t linger.

Day 5: Olympic Sailing Center – Yan’er Island Park – Wheat Island Park – Haizhifeng Square – Qingdao Sculpture Park – Shilaoren Bathing Beach – Qingdao World Horticultural Expo Garden

The Olympic Sailing Center faces May Fourth Square across the water, with hills at its back and the sea in front. Sails drift, scenery is pleasant.

The Olympic Torch sculpture is 20.08 meters tall, symbolizing the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games: “Harmony born of coexistence, blending in harmony.”

Blue sky, blue sea, white sails – breathtaking. “Sails blend with clouds and water; islands blue-green as the sun sets.”

Romantic Lover’s Dam. Originally the main breakwater of the Olympic Sailing Center, it was here during the 2008 Olympic sailing events that Yin Jian won China’s first-ever windsurfing gold. Afterward, her fiancé proposed on the dam, and the name Lover’s Dam spread: “Walk hand in hand on Lover’s Dam, and no storm can scare you!”

“Autumn Tide at Yan’er Island” is one of Qingdao’s ten scenes. Yan’er Island juts into the sea, bristling with reefs. Every autumn during big tides, the surf pounds the shore, sending spray up like snow, like ten thousand galloping horses – a spectacular sight. Today wasn’t a big tide, so the rumored fury was absent, but waves still rolled and surged, with their own charm.

Wheat Island is a beautiful island connected to land by a bridge, named for its shape resembling a reclining sheaf of wheat. This became my favorite park in Qingdao, hands down. Only 15.7 square kilometers, a not-too-big ring island, it boasts incredibly clear blue water, fine golden sand, expansive lawns, and lush woods.

Cute dolphin sculpture.

From here, you can gaze at the distant coastline and enjoy the seaside vista.

Or sit on the grassy hillside to read or sunbathe. Though it was late autumn and the grass no longer green, the golden slopes had their own romance.

East of Wheat Island is the Level Zero Elevation Scenic Area, where you can see the world’s tallest “Mazu Goddess on the Sea” sculpture and a mechanically operable sea rainbow bridge.

Haizhifeng Square offers fairly typical seaside views.

Qingdao Sculpture Park was a delightful surprise. It includes a beautiful sculpture museum (alas, again it was Monday, so I couldn’t see the indoor exhibits)

and an outdoor sculpture park dotted with works amid grass and trees. Various themes, styles, materials – worth a leisurely appreciation.

I loved the chubby bird and the geometric patterns, leaving much room for imagination. The lower-right sculpture pays homage to Hitchcock, a master of suspense I greatly admire.

Even the utility hole covers and street furniture here are beautiful.

Shilaoren Bathing Beach. Clear water, gentle slope, fresh air. To the east, you can see the massive rock “Shilaoren” (Old Stone Man) standing in the sea.

Qingdao World Horticultural Expo Garden covers about 187 hectares, a 4A scenic area. Opened in 2015, it houses around 1,700 plant species and a 71% green coverage rate. The air is fresh. In late autumn, visitors were scarce; it felt as if I had the whole serene garden to myself.

Handshake topiary and golden trees.

Buildings and lake.

Inside the Chinese Garden: terraced field landscaping and Yunnan flair.

A Beijing-style quadrangle courtyard layout.

What stunned me was inside the Lotus Pavilion: a water lily still blooming in deep autumn.

Outdoor plants were few, so I had to explore the Plant Pavilion. The jellyfish world inside blew me away again: moon jellyfish, red moon jellyfish, black star jellyfish, Atlantic sea nettles, fried egg jellyfish, colorful jellyfish – over a dozen species, dancing like sprites in the light, airy and elegant.

Snapped a photo of a large yellow ray (devil fish).

Phalaenopsis, purple star bromeliads, kalanchoe, datura, guzmania, hibiscus, impatiens, fiddle-leaf cherry, and more.

In the main hall, a succulent area with all sorts of adorable fleshy plants.

Dinner was a seafood tofu claypot.

Day 6 (morning): Dabao Island Cultural Tourism Leisure Block (Pichaiyuan – Liyuan – Liyuan Museum – Luochuanjia Art Museum – Sacred Heart Convent Site) – Laoshe Park

I was staying in a place called Pichaiyuan, which I initially thought was just a holdover name like Xi’an’s Ram City. Only on this morning, while exploring Qingdao’s streets and alleys up close, did I realize there was actually a Pichaiyuan a hundred meters away – and it had a history. It was once a big performance stage, Qingdao’s working-class entertainment center. During the Republican era, famous entertainers like crosstalk’s Ma Sanli, Shandong qinshu performers Shang Yexing and Guan Yunxia, Xihe dagu performer Liu Taiqing, and storytellers Ge Zhaohong and Wang Baoheng all made their names right here. Later, shops and restaurants flocked in, mixing commerce, dining, and entertainment; the place buzzed with life. In the 1940s, the “Qingdao Evening News” even had a special “Pichaiyuan” column reporting daily happenings.

A stage still stands. [Photo]

Qingdao’s architecture is diverse, but none represents the city’s local cultural character better than the Liyuan buildings. A clever combination of Western townhouses and Chinese siheyuan courtyards, they reached their peak in the 1940s. In layout, they follow typical Western planning, but inside each courtyard, Chinese design features dominate, with a central skylight living space – hence called “Sino-Western compromise style.” The Dabao Island block contains 187 such liyuans. Walking here, the European-style buildings are imbued with the marks of time yet infused with a new era’s fashionable vitality.

There’s a Liyuan Museum and exhibition hall, detailing each courtyard’s history and features. This is the interior of a siheyuan-style liyuan. [Photo]

Restored to its original look, some old buildings show their fair-faced brick walls.

Luochuanjia Art Museum is a small private venue exhibiting watercolors. The ground floor is a very inviting café. Their little flowers, and a street cartoon.

Sacred Heart Convent site.

Laoshe Park is just a neighborhood park. A statue of Confucius.

In the afternoon, I left beautiful Qingdao for the next stop – Jinan.

(Sorry, uploading images is too slow, many are missing, so make do)