(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-10 07:29

Located in East China's Shandong Peninsula.

730km of coastline gives Qingdao excellent port access.

An important economic center famous for its cultural heritage and picturesque scenery, Qingdao has received China's Top 10 Economics Dynamic Cities and Top 10 Business Cities Awards from the government.

Qingdao has made great progress in opening up to the outside world.

The total amount of paid-up foreign capital was $2.15 billion and total foreign trade $20.18 billion in the first half of 2007.

To date, companies from 84 countries and regions conduct business operations in Qingdao.

About 160 enterprises are partly funded by the World's Top 500 businesses.

There were 8,340 foreign investment enterprises with a total investment of $29.27 billion and registered capital of $15.89 billion at the end of June.

Since 1979, Qingdao has established sister-city relationships with 17 cities from 15 countries including Shimonoseki of Japan, Miami of the United States and St. Petersburg of Russia.

Qingdao Liuting International Airport links China to 55 cities around the world via 81 airlines.

There are roughly 13 daily flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Korea respectively and additional services are about to take off in order to better serve the 2008 Olympic Sailing Competition.

The number of international visitors has increased by 20 percent for the past several years.

More than 1 million foreign travelers and 29 million Chinese from elsewhere will visit the city in 2007.

(China Daily 08/10/2007 page24)