The more I read of Chinese history, the more fascinated I am with this place. And there is a lot of history to read. My students never let me forget that Chinese civilization is 6,000 years old. I don’t know if they are competing for bragging rights or trying to put me in my place, but the young age of the United States isn’t the sore point for me they seem to think it will be. That might be because, despite the 6,000 year timeline, for me the most interesting period in Chinese history is pretty recent. China in the 1800’s reads like a twisted adventure comic.

Consider:

1. Queen Victoria forces the Qing dynasty, at gunpoint, to deal opium to its people. Twice.

2. A troubled schoolteacher, after being handed the historical equivalent of one of those “This Was Your Life - Repent & Be Saved” Jack Chick tracts that miserly churchgoers in the Bible-Belt leave as tips after post-worship brunches at Ruby Tuesday’s, decides that he is the Chinese son of God, Jesus’ little-brother, and raises an army of more than 100,000 scrappy, peasant-converts that almost topple a dynasty that had lasted 200 years.

3. The dominant culture (in this case, Han Chinese), after depleting their own rich stocks of natural resources (in this case, gold and silver mines), attempts to appropriate the rich stores of their local Muslim brethren. The resulting skirmishes escalate quickly into an all-out rebellion, in which the local populations of Muslims form armed gangs which assassinate every infidel or unrecruitable co-religionist they can find. The dynasty finally declares war on the insurgents. The rebellion drags on for twenty years, and though it is eventually put down, the war deals significant blows to the empire’s coffers and morale. Foreign governments like France and Japan, seeing the dynasty’s weakness, take this opportunity to seize large areas of China for their own purposes.

Sound familiar?

So…

In the wake of these events, a strong sense of xenophobia begins to manifest itself. Secret societies employing an anti-imperialist doctrine begin to form in the Shandong peninsula. Meanwhile, Germany, refusing to be left out of the expansionist race into China, goes looking for an ideal base to house its cruisers. It locates one in a small fishing village also in the Shandong peninsula. Shortly thereafter, in 1897, two German missionaries are killed by xenophobic/anti-Christian locals. Under the auspices of demanding retribution and a safe harbor, Kaiser Wilhelm forces the Qing dynasty to cede this area to Germany for 99 years. The region comes to be known as Kiaochow, and it is administrated from that fishing village, Tsingtao - now known as Qingdao.

I just wanted to provide a short historical foundation for the city. I’ll let Emily describe how amazing the place is, but here’s a peek.