Hi, this is Stephan again from Qingdao. It has been a wonderful first week with InternChina in my new city. China is crazy, but in a positive way. Everything is different from Europe. The people, the food, the traffic. I love the beach and the wonderful sea here in Qingdao.

I got to meet a lot of interesting individuals this week and there are just a lot of impressions I have to process right now. What is also very interesting for me as a German guy, is that there is a long German history in Qingdao. Surprisingly, before me some Germans have already been here and they had quite some influence on the region around Qingdao.

In 1898, Germany forced China into giving them 553 square kilometers of land in Northeast China for 99 years. It happened after the killing of two German missionaries, this gave the military a reason to launch an offense in northeastern China. The most important city in this region was the city of Qingdao. This era lasted until 1914 when Japan was able to force the Germans out of China.

Today you can still see some influences of that past time. A lot of houses still resemble German architecture and there are a few churches that look exactly like a church back in good old Germany… Impressive!

You also can not forget the world famous Tsingtao Beer. The Tsingtao Brewery was founded back in 1903 and since then its beer has made its way all around the world. There is no better way to enjoy the Qingdao beach in the evening and drink a cold Tsingtao beer.  Ganbei!

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