Why is Qingdao called Qingdao?

Qingdao is located in the east of China, southeast of Shandong Peninsula, bordering Yantai in the north, Yellow Sea in the east, Rizhao in the southwest and Weifang in the west. Qingdao is an important coastal central city, coastal holiday city and international port city in China. Qingdao has a long history. It is the birthplace of sea salt in China. It is one of the four ancient salt areas in China and one of the five ancient ports.

At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Gou Jian, King of Yue, formed an alliance here. Qin Shihuang traveled around the world. He has been to Langya three times (in Huangdao District of Qingdao). Xu Fu went to sea from Qingdao, looking for an elixir for Qin Shihuang. In the Han Dynasty, before Liu Che ascended the throne, he was the king of Jiaodong in Qingdao. The "Jimo Ancient City" in pingdu city, Qingdao is the earliest existing ancient city site in China. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Qingdao has become an important trading port in the north. The Yuan Dynasty dug the only sea canal in China here. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Qingdao was also an important coastal defense area.

But it can really be said that Qingdao is young, because the urban area has only appeared for more than one hundred years. 1897. The German invaders seized Jiaozhou Bay under the pretext of "Juye religious case" and forced the Qing court to sign the Jiaozhou Lease Treaty. 1899. The German emperor William II named the Dezhan area Qingdao. This is the earliest record of Qingdao appearing as a city name.

There are many different opinions about the name of Qingdao. One view is that when Germany invaded Qingdao, it first occupied an island in Jiaozhou Bay. This island is called Qindao, which later evolved into Qingdao. When the Germans named the German occupied area, they used the name Qingdao.

Some people think that the "green" of Qingdao actually refers to cyan, that is, the island of cyan. There is a shady island in the northernmost part of Jiaozhou Bay. These trees are dense and green. Everyone passing by can see that the whole island is blue. It is called Qingdao.

There is another saying. There is a fishing village called Qingdao near Haikou in Jiaozhou Bay, which is the throat of Jiaozhou Bay. Ming Shenzong became a foreign trade port in Wanli years. 1863. the Qing dynasty set up a customs branch here. 1886, Taoist Liu cangfen mentioned Qingdao in an article about JIAOZHOU bay survey in Chen zhong, saying that there was a 47-80-foot-high Qingdao on the east side of JIAOZHOU bay exit, which belonged to Jimo county and later became a town called Qingdao kou. When 1898 to 1929 was occupied by Germany and Japan, the official place name was "Jiao 'ao". At that time, Qingdao was just a small town on the east side of Jiaozhou Bay. It should be the same place as Qingdao mentioned by Liu Cangcang.

In addition to these more formal statements, the name Qingdao has a beautiful legend. A long time ago, there was a small fishing village under Laoshan Mountain. There lived a couple, my brother Yu and my sister Qin. Sister Qin plays the piano beautifully, like a flower. The shark monster in the sea is drooling over Qin Mei. Take brother Yu out to sea to the shark palace under the sea. Force Brother Yu to give him Qinmei. In order to save Qinmei, Brother Yu pretended to agree. When he saw Qin Mei, he told her to run away. Shark monster was furious. She wants to drown the fishing village. Qinmei played her guqin and became a seagull flying in the air. Guqin turned into a boulder, locked the shark monster in the sea and saved the village. The boulder became an island. People call it Qindao. Later it evolved into Qingdao.

This is the origin of Qingdao. But Qingdao really has a district called Huangdao District.