Batterman Commercial Building (1905), in the Old Town.
Today’s Qingdao is regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in China. And much of it has got to do with its architectural heritage, which has been remarkably preserved, and is set against a dramatic natural landscape of sea and mountain.
In this post, we explore Old Town Tsingtao, which was built by the Germans at an alarmingly fast rate between 1898 and 1914, when they lost Tsingtao to the Japanese.
There isn’t any specific route here – we start off in the heart of the Old Town, just off the Tsingtao waterfront, meander our way to St Michael’s Cathedral and its environs, pop over to the former foreign consulate quarter, trek up the hill to see the Governor’s Residence up close, before taking another meandering stroll along the waterfront to view some of the most striking of the dozens of colonial-era villas that still stand.
Along the way, the rain comes and goes, the mist comes and goes, but through it all, Tsingtao remains charming and pleasant – truly one of the rare cities in China.
Thankfully, the city has rather meticulously documented its built heritage, and so many of the buildings I’ve been able to identify. A lot of the research has been done in Chinese though – and so where a building is not identified, it is most likely because I am unable to translate the Chinese name of that building.
The German Post Office (1899)
The Pharmacy, on Prinz Heinrich Street
Qingdao Light Industry, on Prinz Heinrich Street.
The Seamens’ Club (1901)
Residential Villa near St Michael’s Cathedral.
Commercial buildings.
Former offices of the Hamburg-America Line.
Commercial buildings near St Michael’s.
St Michael’s Church itself.
Societas Verbi Divini (SVD) building, erected in 1899.
The Holy Ghost Convent (1902).
German Town Hall (1906).
Villa in the Consulate District.
The Former Imperial Court of Kiautchou (1913)
The former Danish Consulate (1900)
The former German Navy Battalion HQ (1900s).
Christchurch Tsingtao (1910)
The Governor’s Residence.
The German School for Boys (1901).
Random Villa I
Random Villa II
Random Villa III
Th Strand Hotel 1904.
Tsingtao YMCA (1914)
Residence of the Adjutant to the Commander of the German Navy (1904)
Random Villa IV – on the waterfront.
Random Villas V and VI.
Random Villas VII and VIII.
The Marquis Hotel (1906)
Shandong Railway and Mining Co. Headquarters (1902).
The Tsingtao Club (1911).
Panorama of Old Tsingtao from Signal Hill, with a view of Christchurch.
Dream Of A City 
Thanks for sharing there fotos, I was born in Tsingtao and it’s really a beautiful city. I am always wandering about the Old Town and enjoying the privileged view of the costa and the sea.