THANKS to Qingdao’s unique charm in its scenery and buildings, the 120-year-old city has become the shooting location for a number of Chinese movies over the years.

    Movie as an art entered China in around 1905 and Qingdao was among the first ones to experience the magic of the movies, laying a solid foundation for Qingdao’s cinematic tradition, said Lu Hai, an expert in Qingdao’s culture and history.

    As early as 1898 when Qingdao became a German colony, there were German cinematographers visiting Qingdao to record the natural scenery and daily life in Qingdao. At that time, China had no movie industry.

    A grand restaurant was set up the next year in Qingdao, which had a concert hall. According to records, the concert hall was showing movies in 1900.

    The Germans had also established a seamens’ club in Qingdao, which was said to be one of the first cinemas in China.

    A long list of early Chinese movie makers had chosen Qingdao as one of their shooting venues thanks to Qingdao’s history, culture, beautiful natural scenery and European architecture.

    Since the 21st century, over 100 movies and TV series are filmed in Qingdao each year. According to CCTV records, nearly one-third of the Chinese movies and TV series have chosen Qingdao as one of their shooting venues each year.

    Qingdao is also home to a number of popular movie stars, including Fan Bingbing, Tang Guoqiang and Wang Yan. (Jane Lai, Liu Yanqing)