In recent years, there are different views on the city level of Qingdao. In 2020, Qingdao won the title of "new first-tier city" and was once included in the level of "third-tier metropolis", but more often, Qingdao still strives for the upper reaches in the ranks of second-tier cities.

In fact, from the position of Qingdao, this city has the capital to become a first-tier city. Qingdao is located on the coast of the Yellow Sea, connecting Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea from the sea in the east, and connecting the SCO countries and Central Asia to Europe from the land in the west. It is the international shipping hub of Northeast Asia, the main node city of the Belt and Road New Eurasian Continental Bridge Economic Corridor and the strategic fulcrum of maritime cooperation.

history

Qingdao is named after Qingdao, an ancient fishing village. Qingdao's proper name "Qingdao" originally refers to a small island in before the gulf. It was named "Qingdao" because of its trees all the year round, and it was first recorded in "Memories of Guang Zhi" written by Wang Shixing during Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty.

In the seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1579), the name of Qingdao was recorded in the "Discussion on Local Affairs and Coastal Defence" presided over by Xu Ding, the magistrate of Jimo County: "The southeast coast of this county, that is, the eastern boundary of China, has no Tianjin in sight, and the island of Luo Zhi is in between. The people who can live on the island are called Qing, Fu and Guan ... "The" Qing "here refers to Qingdao.