There is such a saying called "Modern China looks at Shanghai", in fact, it is equally appropriate to apply this sentence to Qingdao.
Like Shanghai, the history of Qingdao's main urban area is not very long, and Qingdao has only risen in modern times and left its own glorious chapter. The short colonial history has left Qingdao with a large number of cultural heritages that combine Chinese and Western cultures, and has also laid the foundation for Qingdao's historical status in modern China.
Qingdao Xia district has a long ancient history
In fact, if you count the counties and municipalities under the jurisdiction of Qingdao, the history of Qingdao is very long, dating back to the Neolithic Age. About 6000 to 7000 years ago, there were primitive human activities here, and the famous Jiaozhou Sanlihe Cultural Site and Pingdu Yueshi Cultural Site are the living relics left by the ancients in the Qingdao area.
In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the cities of Langya and Jimo in the Qingdao area quickly rose to become the economic and cultural center of the eastern part of the State of Qi. At the time of Le Yi's conquest, one of the only two remaining cities in the State of Qi was Jimo (Tian Shan was in Jimo to take the fire bull array and sound the clarion call for the State of Qi to recover the lost territory).
After Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, he set up Langya County here, and the county seat was in today's Jiaonan Langya Town. According to historical records, Qin Shi Huang once drove to Langya three times to build the Langyatai Palace, and it was also here that Xu Fudong was sent to search for immortal islands and seek immortal medicine.
During the Han Dynasty, Qingdao was successively set up as Jiaodongguo and Langya County. It is worth mentioning that Liu Che, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, was the King of Jiaodong before he was crown prince. Therefore, when Liu Che succeeded to the throne, he visited Langya and Jimo many times, and set up 9 MingTangs in the Ancestral Worship of Ancestors in Nügu Mountain on the shore of Jiaozhou Bay, leaving many cultural relics. Unfortunately, after Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, the Jiaodong state was abolished, and Jimo also declined day by day.
Until the Tang and Song dynasties, the Jiaozhou Bay area centered on the town and port of Banqiao in Jiaozhou Bay re-emerged, becoming the only port and maritime trade center in northern China, but unfortunately, the prohibition of the sea and the closed country in the Ming and Qing dynasties once again made Qingdao decline.
Qingdao's main urban area has a rich modern history
Qingdao has long been classified as a new city, mainly because its main urban area is not very old. But this does not prevent qingdao's main urban area from having a rich modern history.
In modern times, Qingdao's historical position is extremely important. From the German occupation of Jiaozhou Bay in 1897, Qingdao became a German colony in the East. The arrival of the Germans, although it brought oppression and suffering to the people of Qingdao, made an indelible contribution to the urban construction of Qingdao. It can be said that today's main urban area of Qingdao was expanded on the basis of the German city construction in that year.
But it was also from the German occupation of Jiaozhou Bay that the wave of imperialist partition of China began, which led to the emergence of the Penghu Reform Movement and the Boxer Rebellion against imperialism and patriotism. In 1914, when World War I broke out, Japan took the opportunity to invade qingdao and put forward the "21 Articles" intended to exterminate China, which aroused opposition from the people of the whole country.
After a long struggle, in 1922 China was able to regain sovereignty over Qingdao as it wished, becoming the precursor to China's repossession of leased land. It is precisely during this period that Qingdao has left a rich and colorful past in China's modern history and laid the foundation for Qingdao's historical status in modern Chinese history.
About the origin of the name Qingdao
The origin of the word ''Qingdao'' has an interesting story, the name ''Qingdao'' originally referred to ''Little Qingdao'' (also known as Qindao), named after the island's '' mountains and rocks are beautiful, and the forests are lush'. The name ''Qingdao'' dates back to the middle of the Ming Dynasty (i.e. more than 400 years ago). At that time, Xu Quan, the commander of Jimo County, inspected the sea areas and rural areas of Jimo Sifang, and then compiled the "Discussion on Local Matters and Coastal Defense". In the "Discussion on Local Affairs and Coastal Defense", there is a passage about the name of Qingdao: "'The southeast coast of this county, that is, the eastern boundary of China, is beyond sight, but the island is in the middle of Luozhi. The inhabitable people of the island are Known as Qing, Yue Fu, Yue Guan, Yue Bai Ma, Yue Xiang Hua, Yue Tian Heng, Yue Yan Wu ''. The ''Qing'' here refers to Qingdao, which is now Little Qingdao.
So when will ''Qingdao'' be used as the general name for the Qingdao area? In qingdao Tianhou Temple, there is such a stone stele engraved in the Qing Tongzhi period of the "Monument to the Construction of the Drama Building". According to the inscription on the stone stele: '''Since the beginning of the eavesdropping on Qingdao, there have been more than a hundred years. So far, tourists and businessmen have gathered to '''. The "'Qingdao'" on the stone tablet no longer refers to Xiao qingdao, but to the entire Qingdao area.
From the sentence on the stone tablet, "Since the beginning of the eavesdropping on Qingdao, there have been more than a hundred years" and "inferred that 'Qingdao'" has become the general name of the entire Qingdao area, at least dating back to the Qianlong period, and there are more than three hundred years of history.