FOREWORD

Located on the southern tip of the Shandong Peninsula by the shores of the Yellow Sea, Qingdao is a coastal open city with excellent natural resources and brilliant cultural heritage.

Qingdao is an important coastal central city, a seaside tourist destination, an international port, and a national famous historic and cultural city of China, with seven districts and three county-level cities under its jurisdiction and over 10 million permanent population.

General Secretary Xi Jinping gives great support to and has high expectations on Qingdao. Since 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping has visited Qingdao twice to attend the SCO Qingdao Summit and the naval review in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PLA Navy respectively. He asked Qingdao to capitalize on the opportunity of hosting flagship international events to bolster the city's development and to build a modern international metropolis, which has charted the course for Qingdao's future endeavour.

It is a marine gateway to the world. Qingdao shoulders a series of major national tasks such as building the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area,the Military-Civilian Integration Innovation Demonstration Area and the Qingdao Area of China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone. Qingdao is home to a number of national-level parks and zones including Qingdao West Coast New Area, Qingdao Oceantec Valley, Qingdao National High-tech Zone, and Jiaodong Airport Economy Demonstration Area. Homegrown famous companies include Haier, Hisense, Tsingtao Brewery,CRRC Sifang as well as unicorn enterprises like COSMOPlat,TELD, NewLink, etc. Qingdao takes a leading position nationwide in streamlining administration, delegating power, strengthening regulation and improving services, as well as the reforms of state-owned capital and enterprises, wealth management and social credit system.

A lovely town embraced by beautiful seabays, breathtaking mountains and the vast ocean, it is an ideal escape from the winter chill and summer heat. The city is enchanting with perpetual scenery of the red roofs nestling among green trees and the blue sea meeting the azure sky, and a winding coastline dotted with elegant and magnificent buildings of diverse architectural styles. This beautiful home endowed with blue sky, green land, clear sea and water has won China Human Settlements and Environment Award and has been rated one of the most ecologically competitive cities in China.

Qingdao is steeped in history and culture. The May Fourth Movement in 1919 was launched to protest against foreign occupation of the city. This fashionable, dynamic, warm and romantic city is also renowned for football, film and television, fashion, sailing sport and art. It has won a series of titles such as the National Civilized City, National Clean City, National Model City for Military-civilian Mutual Support, and has been rated among the happiest Chinese cities and most livable Chinese cities.

The grass and trees are exuberant, and the mountains are more beautiful in spring. Aimed at becoming a pioneer city,an innovative city, a hub city and an inclusive city, Qingdao is stepping up the efort to make itself a pilot in modern industry,a pioneer modern ocean city, an international innovative city, a global gateway and hub, a livable and pro-business tourism city by the bay, and a model city for modern governance. With the visions to build a vibrant ocean city and a livable and lovable city, Qingdao strives to write a grand chapter of building a socialist modern international metropolis in the new era.

Work hard to build a brand new Qingdao, and chase our dreams in the new era. Qingdao, a city forever young.