ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to qingdao. my name is miao meng. i am very pleased to be your service as a tour guide today. the first sight we are going to see this morning is zhanqiao land stage, which is in the gulf of qingdao. it is the symbol of qingdao. and it is about a 10-minute bus ride to get there. before we arrive, shall i give you a brief introduction of the city?

situated on the south coast of shandong peninsula, qingdao is a famous tourist city in china. known as “ pearl on the yellow sea”, the city backs mountains and faces the sea, the topography here is special, the scenery beautiful and the climate pleasing. a poem alludes to this beautiful city. it reads as follow,

green mountains stand still

in-between, clear water flowing

red roofs glisten in the sun

kissing your cheeks, soft sea wind blowing

sea gulls fly, we are not sure

whether in azure sky, or on blue sea

peaks are, as in ink drawings, peculiar

and the best, the sight here must be

founded in 1891, qingdao has a history of more than 100 years. it is one of the earliest 14 opening door cities of china. because of its incomparable geographic position, the transportation means here are convenient. it’s a good tourist destination and an ideal city to make an investment. i wish your could know better about the city, and it would give you a great impression through my guide and commentary.

now everybody, here we are on the coast of the gulf. look! do you see that long bridge reaches into the sea? yes, this is the famous zhanqiao landing stage. it is 10 meters wide, 440 meters long. standing on the south end of bridge in the sea is a two-story pavilion. it’s called “huilange”(which means pavilion of returned billows). looking from afar, it is just like a rainbow hanging above the sea. isn’t it magnificent? in fact, as early as in the 1930s, this landing stage was named no.1 among the ten most famous scenic spots of qingdao. now here we are on the landing stage.founded in 1892, zhanqiao landing stage witnessed the history of qingdao city. in 1891, the qing government sent zhang gaoyuan to garrison in qingdao village. they built forts and camps here and made qingdao an important town. in the second year, for the purpose of sea transportation, they built a 200-meter long iron dock with stone foundation in the south coast. that was the predecessor of the landing stage. and in 1894, minister li hongzhang reported this to the qing government. since then, it has been the symbol of qingdao.

on nov. 14, 1897, german troops landed from qingdao and occupied the city. this bridge was a witness of german’s invasion. in 1900, it was destroyed by a typhoon and was rebuilt as long as 350 meters long by the germans. it became a sight-seeing spot after dagang port was built in 1905.

from september 1931 to april 1934, zhanqiao landing stage was again reconstructed by the guomindang government. it was prolonged to 440 meters, with reinforced concrete piers and paved road. on the south end of the bridge, a semi-round embankment was constructed, and on the embankment, they built a two-story pavilion in traditional chinese style. look, it is in a shape of octagon and it has eight extending eaves, with yellow glazed tiles on the roofs. from the pavilion, you can enjoy the upcoming billows in layers, and this scene is called “ feigehuilan”. when night falls, all the lights on both sides of the bridge are on, they look like the blossoms of magnolia. since then, zhanqiao has became the no 1 scenic spot in qingdao.after new china was founded in1949, zhanqiao has been well preserved and experienced many times of renovation. it has became a place that tourists will never miss to pay a visit whenever they come to qingdao

now we are in the pavilion. shall we go up and enjoy the beautiful scenes here? what a view! this is the real qingdao, blue seawater, white sand beaches, green mountains and red roofs. look across from here, that small green island is the “little qingdao”. on the island, there is a beacon tower, which is a navigation mark for the ships sailing in the bay.

and look back to the shore, that street in one line with the bridge is the most flourishing street, which is called zhongshan road. the railway station is just near the shore, at a distance of only 500 meters.

ok, everybody. would you like to have your pictures taken here? i’ll give you a 15-minute break. we’ll gather on the shore 15 minutes later. see you in a moment.