Qingdao is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means "greenish-blue island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt, One Road Initiative that connects Asia with Europe. It has the highest GDP of any city in the province. Administered at the sub-provincial level, Qingdao has jurisdiction over six districts and four county-level cities. As of the 2010 census, Qingdao built-up area made of the 7 urban Districts was home to 5,764,384 inhabitants. Lying across the Shandong Peninsula and looking out to the Yellow Sea, it borders the prefecture-level cities of Yantai to the northeast, Weifang to the west and Rizhao to the southwest.
Qingdao is a major seaport and naval base, as well as a commercial and financial center. It is home to electronics multinationals such as Haier and Hisense. The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, links the main urban area of Qingdao with Huangdao district, straddling the Jiaozhou Bay sea areas. Its historic, German-style architecture and Tsingtao Brewery, the second largest brewery in China are legacies of the German occupation.