Qingdao (/tʃɪŋˈdaʊ/, also spelled Tsingtao; Chinese: 青岛, Mandarin: [tɕʰíŋtàʊ]) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means "azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) 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 seven districts and three county-level cities (Jiaozhou, Pingdu, Laixi). As of the 2020 census, Qingdao built-up (or metro) area made of the 7 urban Districts (Shinan, Shibei, Huangdao, Laoshan, Licang, Chengyang and Jimo) was home to 7,172,451 inhabitants. Lying across the Shandong Peninsula and looking out to the Yellow Sea, it borders t