On my first day in Qingdao, my mom's cousins daughter, I'll just call her my cousin since I'm not sure what that is called in English, and her husband took my around the city.
First we went to the Tsingtao Beer Factory, to meet my uncle who works there, and take a tour of the museum. This was really interesting to me, since I studied World War II history pretty extensively. During the era when the Western powers started carving out colonies in China, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Germans claimed Qingdao. The first thing they did was open a brewery. For a few decades, they ran Tsingtao Brewery, until the Japanese invaded China in the 1930s. The Japanese took over the beer factory, and from then on instead of using German animals like lions and Eagles on the label, the Japanese used a Kirin. From there, Japanese trademarks for Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo beers were derived from Tsingtao's formula. After China was liberated from Japan, the Nationalists took Tsingtao, and reestablished it as Tsingtao Brewery. It then passed to Communist control in the end of the 1940s. So interesting that this beer company's history is so tied to the ruling powers in Qingdao.
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| Ships in the mist |
In the museum, they show you the beer production process, as well as the history of making beer. Apparently it used to be made in temples, predominantly by women. Then it passed to monks. In Qingdao now, you can buy beer in plastic bags--five liters! It's very cheap, about 2 USD for five liters in a bag. At the factory, we got free samples of unfiltered beer, which is a lot stronger and a bit sour, filtered beer, and honey roasted peanuts. Outside the beer factory is a busy street, where people drink and eat sausages, a remnant of Qingdao's German time.
After being a bit woozy from the samples, we went to the beach. You can tell that the coast of Qingdao, which literally is named for beautiful water, must have been gorgeous once. Apparently, since the Olympics in 2008, when the boat races were held in Qingdao, there is now green algal blooms in the sea. What was once calm, clear water is now covered in patches of smelly green algae. They have even hired several boats to clean it up, but more and more comes. "Is this the ugliest beach you have seen?" Asked me cousin. It definitely is not, but it's sad that pollution and global warming have changed this place so much. She said that during the winter, the algae doesn't grow and it's a lot prettier, but then you get the icy wind from the north. I hope they manage to clean it up better.
The beach was full of brides. Apparently this area is popular for bridal photo shoots. All over the beach are couples, dressed in matching clothes, posing with horses, jumping back and forth into the waves, running hand and hand along the beach, and holding cute signs, while the photographer barks out directions. "It's really tiring," my cousin told me.
"Run again!" A photographer yells, while a bride to be lifts a long veil up so that is trails over her head and runs across the sand. Women hike up their gowns and walk in flip flops from destination to destination.
We sat at a cafe overlooking the water, and I had hot chocolate and watched the various couples immortalize their wedding moments.
Afterwards, we went to the old Olympic stadium, and walked along the docks, and went to a mall for lunch. It was a small, western fusion restaurant, with a really good tuna Niçoise salad with seaweed and szechuan peppercorn oil. I was pretty tired by then, and when they took me to a boat, I fell asleep with my face on a table. There was a lighthouse too.
That evening, I had raw crab, marinated in spicy vinegar. It was really good. In general, the seafood here is really fresh. At dinner yesterday, everyone had assured me that every animal on the table had been alive when purchased, some up to the second they were thrown into the pan.
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