Written by: Wang Zhen - People's Daily
Posted on: August 01, 2018 | 
| 中文
The Modern Qingdao
From June 9th to 10th, the 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held in Qingdao, Shandong, China. Seventeen years ago, the SCO was born in China, and today, the baton is passed over to China again. Qingdao, an ancient coastal city of China, is waiting for guests and friends from around the world with its hospitality and beauty.
In this lovely season of June, Qingdao is vibrant with bright sunshine and beautiful scenery. Colorful flowers vie to bloom, and bright neon lights add radiance to each other. All of these make the city even more picturesque and charming. The sea breathes quietly, as the waves gently pat the reefs and break into whitecaps, bounding and running like naughty children playing on the shore. In the distance, one can see the Langya Terrace, Mount Dazhu and Mount Xiaozhu, behind which are the lofty mountains of Lao, Tianzhu and Daze, with their overlapping peaks covered by lush green trees. When the wind blows, the branches and leaves rattle as if calling for guests and singing a welcome song.
This is the most beautiful time since Qingdao opened to the outside world. It is particularly bright, fresh, dazzling and eye-catching. An international gathering — the 2018 SCO Summit was held here. This opportunity given by the new era pleased people in the port city who could not help but feel happy and excited.
As a city with a history of only more than 120 years, Qingdao has made a new and brilliant appearance on the international stage through the event, unveiling its youth and beauty again to renew the world’s understanding about it.
In fact, Qingdao has long been well-known in the writings of literati.
When Kang Youwei, a Chinese scholar in the late Qing dynasty, sat in his room in his Qingdao residence named "Tianyou Garden" to write a letter to his friend, he pushed open the window and saw the sea, trees, houses and blue sky in the distance. Feeling refreshed and pleased, he involuntarily gasped in admiration and quickly wrote down the words that Qingdao is, “China’s most pleasant coastal city with red roofs nestling in green foliage, and the blue sea meeting the azure sky.” This is Kang Youwei's instant exclamation when he was moved by what he had seen, but inadvertently left behind as the best summary of Qingdao's urban landscape.
Walking into the old city area and standing in the sightseeing pavilion on Xiaoyu Hill, you will see Qingdao’s perpetual cityscape described by Kang: the red tiles, green leaves, shimmering blue sea andazure sky, interlining and complementing to each other, and outlining a spectacular picture of the city.
Architecture is the face of a city. Qingdao is a modern city whose architecture is deeply influenced by European architectural styles. The Badaguan (Eight Great Passes) scenic area, renowned as a “museum of world architectural styles,” gathers a large number of European buildings, many of which are classic works and still deemed as models in the architecture industry. Although a large number of these buildings were actually designed and built by Chinese, their highly-praised unique style and exquisite craftsmanship distinguish the city from its kind.
Many people attribute Qingdao’s beauty to its view of the sea, and indeed, its sea is special.
The famous modern Chinese writer Lao She lived in Qingdao for a long time, where he completed his well-known novel Rickshaw Boy. He often went to the seaside when taking a break from writing. There, his weariness of writing dissipated as he breathed the fresh air. The writer liked the ocean and showed a special preference for Qingdao's sea.
“How can the people of Qingdao forget to go to the sea? Yet oddly enough, the sea in May is especially green and lovely. Perhaps it is because people are in a good mood. Take a look at the green leaves beside the road, and then a look at the sea. Indeed, that makes people understand what ‘The spring is as deep and broad as the sea’ means.” The above writing of Lao She’s shows his rich imagination and interesting associative thinking, and makes a unique interpretation of the Chinese idiom of spring scenery. And that is the inspiration given by the sea of Qingdao. He would not have such a profound feeling if he did not personally witness the scene.
The sea has not only amazed and pleased people with its majestic momentum and gentle tranquility, but also created enormous wealth for Qingdao's economic development. The coastal city has been vigorously developing the "blue economy" these years by using its unique natural conditions that bring opportunities and blessings. Every year, a considerable proportion of its over one trillion yuan of annual GDP comes from the sea. The Qingdao people are grateful for the sea and deeply obsessed by its boundless charm.
Some people say that although Qingdao has the sea, it lacks lofty mountains and steep hills. Truly, it has no high mountains to show off if compared to Mount Huang, Mount Tai, and Mount Wuyi. But don't forget that there is Mount Lao in Qingdao. The mountains, though not high, become famous for their fascinating scenery.
In 1930s, Su Xuelin, a talented female Chinese writer, took a boat from Shanghai to "The Fairyland on Earth"— Qingdao. During her stay in the city, she was deeply inspired by the beautiful scenery of the trees, beaches, waves and lights. Before she left, she visited Mount Lao, and enjoyed its clear and blue streams and overlapping and beautiful peaks so much that she was unwilling to leave. Su left behind many beautiful writings about Qingdao, many of which were about Mount Lao. It is clear to see how much she loved Mount Lao.
Mount Lao is a "mountain of culture", with stories by many literati. It is said that Chinese Qing Dynasty writer, Pu Songling, once came to collect folk stories in Mount Lao, where he took the legend of white peony in Shangqing Palace and ancient camellia of Taiqing Palace as the theme for his popular novel of Xiangyu. Later, inspired by the white wall of Shangqing Palace, he wrote the more famous story The Taoist Priest on Mount Lao.
In fact, the clouds in Qingdao are also very beautiful.
In early 1930s, Chinese writer Shen Congwen came to Qingdao to teach in a college. In a graceful European style building, he could see the sea, the sky and the clouds, whose colors changed from time to time under the bright sunshine. He once wrote that the clouds change the fastest in Yunnan; the clouds in Hebei are mostly yellow; and those in Hunan, mostly gray, and the clouds in Sichuan are either divided or condensed by the high mountains. When it comes to the richness of colors, the clouds on the sea of Qingdao are second to none.
Either at the seaside, on yachts, or among flowers, when you look up, you will see the white, auspicious and happy clouds. How romantic and beautiful is that!
Qingdao is a romantic city. Whether in spring or summer, it is full of joy and laughter. People in this coastal city enjoy comfortable and interesting leisurely lives, with seafood, beer, coffee, saxophone, guitar as well as the wooden trestle along the seaside, the winding paths at Badaguan, the torch sculpture onMay FourthSquare, the Lovers’ Dam at the Olympic SailingBase, and the Golden Beach along the west coast. All these make the city so much special.
Qingdao’s people are hospitable and plain. It's a tradition, and also a virtue.
Another Chinese scholar and writer Liang Shiqiu once lived in an ordinary courtyard at the foot of Xiaoyu Hill in Qingdao, which was inhabited by ordinary citizens. But Liang liked it very much, and said, "This (Qingdao) is a kingdom of gentleman."
The writer was once touched by a minor matter and wrote in his article that, “When I first arrived in Qingdao, I saw that the rickshaw man never fussed over the fare. The passengers all paid one jiao (ten cent) when they got off, or two jiao for longer distance, and there was no argument. This is a phenomenon not seen in other parts of the country. There is hardly any bargaining in the markets in Qingdao. Although it is a trifle, it represents something significant. No wonder some people say that Shandong is a place of sages. How can Qingdao not inherit its good traditions?”
In real life, the people of Qingdao people are honest, sincere and warmhearted. From among the more than nine million permanent population, 1.45 million are registered volunteers. This is the best evidence. If you come to Qingdao, you will feel real sincerity, hospitality and warmth.
Come to Qingdao! It will soon be a beautiful and unforgettable season of harvest.
Translated by Xu Donglin
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