Misc

I was born in Qingdao 青岛 (also spelled Tsingtao), a port city on the Yellow Sea in Shandong Province, China. About 10.5 million people live there. Qingdao is one of Shandong’s economic centers and one of China’s busiest seaports: a city of granite shoreline and German-era streets, of Tsingtao beer (brewed here since 1903), and of companies such as Haier and Hisense. It hosted the sailing events of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Laoshan stands just outside the city; closer in are the beaches and the old villas of Badaguan. The local table is seafood and beer — clams, sea cucumber, and the brew the rest of the world already knows the city’s other name by.