Qingdao Facts

Name of City
Qingdao(Morden Name); Jiao'ao(Former name during Qing Dynasty); Tsingtao(Postal romanization); Jiaozhou(a historical name which refers to the Jiaozhou Bay.)

Geography
Qingdao is located on the south facing coast of the Shandong Peninsula.It borders three prefecture-level cities, namely Yantai to the northeast,Weifang to the west, and Rizhao to the southwest. The city's total jurisdiction area occupies 10,654 square kilometres, and stretches in latitude from 35° 35' to 37° 09' N and in longitude from 119° 30' to 121° 00' E. The populated sections of the city are relatively flat while mountains spur up within city limits and nearby. The highest elevation in the city is 1,133 metres above sea level. Of the total area of Qingdao, 15.5% is highland, while the foothill, plain and lowland areas constitute 25.1%, 37.8% and 21.7%. The city has a 730.64 kilometres coastline. Five significant rivers that flow for more than 50 kilometres can be found in the region.

Administrative divisions
The sub-provincial city of Qingdao has 7 districts,and 3 county-level cities
7 districts: Shina District; Shibei District;Huangdao District;Laoshan District;Licang District;Chengyang District;Jimo District.
3 Satellite cities: Jiaozhou; Pingdu; Laixi

Industrial Zone
Qingdao Special Economic & Technological Development Area
Qingdao Free Trade Zone
Qingdao High-tech Industrial Zone
Qingdao University Industrial Zone

Language
During the city's colonial days,German was the official language and rigorously taught and promoted. Since the demise of Germany's colonial empire during World War I, the German language is virtually dead here and left little impact on the local languages. A local accent known as Qingdao dialect distinguishes the residents of the city from those of the surrounding Shandong province. Due to the efforts by the city government to promote standard Mandarin, most educated people can speak that dialect in addition to their native dialect. With reform policies and English teaching, some young citizens have been taught English and many can converse with English-speaking foreigners.Business and traffic signs in English are becoming more and more common.