1916 Japanese Map of Qingdao, China; World War I

This is a unique c. 1916 Japanese map of Qingdao, China, which Japan seized in late 1914 after declaring war on Germany in World War I. It shows Japan's rapid transformation of the city, building off the experience of colonizing Korea and Taiwan in the preceding years.

Japan's Rapid Colonization of Qingdao

Though this map dates from roughly two years into the Japanese occupation, the deep imprint left by Japan is already evident. Military barracks (listed as both 兵營 and バラック), kempeitai (憲兵會, military police) stations, weapons factories, and other institutions affiliated with the military abound. Japanese banks and companies piled into Qingdao, increasing the Japanese non-military population and leading to the creation of organizations for them, such as the Qingdao Citizen's Association (青島市民會). In many respects, Qingdao came to resemble other Japanese colonial cities like Keijo (Seoul), Taihoku (Taipei), and Hsinking (Changchun), albeit one built on a German-style foundation. Nevertheless, most of the population remained Chinese, as had been the case under the Germans.

The German Legacy in Qingdao

The city of Jimo (即墨) near Qingdao has a long history stretching back over two thousand years, but the history of Qingdao proper only really begins in the late 19th century (when it was known as Jiao'ao 膠澳). Reeling from repeated defeats by Western powers with superior navies, the Qing government sought means to improve its naval defenses and recognized the natural advantages of Jiaozhou Bay (膠州灣), in part after a French fleet anchored there in 1884 during the Sino-French War. However, the German government and military came to the same realization soon afterwards, and used the threat of force to demand that the Qing grant them a concession at Jiaozhou in 1897- 1898 (similar concessions with other foreign powers were negotiated simultaneously or soon afterwards, in part to offset growing Japanese influence following the First Sino-Japanese War).

Germany had big plans for Qingdao and outfitted it with wide streets, stone architecture, a range of impressive government buildings, electrification, a sewer system, and a safe drinking water supply. As with other concessions and treaty ports in China, the de facto or de jure exemption from Chinese law that these territories created provided myriad opportunities for Chinese citizens, for both good and ill. The legacy of the brief but eventful German era can still be seen in the urban layout of the oldest parts of the city, the remaining German-style architecture (including the railway station, at left-center), and, of course, in the storied history of Qingdao's relationship with beer (discussed below).

Qingdao between Empires

Like the Qing and their counterparts in Germany, Japanese empire-builders recognized the strategic location of Qingdao and its usefulness for controlling Shandong Province and China's eastern seaboard. Soon after the outbreak of World War I in Europe, Japan (with some British assistance) besieged and occupied Qingdao. The bitter siege lasted over two months and was the only land battle of World War I in the Asia-Pacific theater. After occupying the city, Japan invested considerable resources into Qingdao and the number of Japanese residents increased rapidly.

China had also joined World War I on the side of the Allies, on the understanding that Qingdao would be returned to Chinese sovereignty in the event of a German defeat. The competing claims between two members of the victorious Allies became a sore issue at the Paris Peace Conference and led to China's refusal to sign the Treaty of Versailles. Eventually, Qingdao was returned to Chinese sovereignty with some concessions to Japan in the 1922 Nine Power Treaty. The episode left bitter feelings in both China and Japan, leading both to distrust Western powers in matters of diplomacy.

Japan reoccupied Qingdao in January 1938, having launched a full-scale war in China the previous year. Japanese planners and bureaucrats set out to build based on the earlier Japanese occupation and an ambitious new urban plan was launched in 1939, but it amounted to little more than administrative reorganization due to war-time supply shortages. After the war, Qingdao served as the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Western Pacific Fleet, and, after the establishment of the People's Republic, was made the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army Navy North Seas Fleet.

The History of Qingdao in One Brewery

Internationally, Qingdao is best known as the hometown of Chinese beer. To the east (right) of the Shinto Shrine is a brewery belonging to the Dai Nippon Beer Co. (大日本麥酒), by far the largest brewery in Japan at the time (after World War II, Dai Nippon split into Sapporo and Asahi). The Qingdao brewery had been founded as the Germania-Brauerei by the Anglo-German Brewery in 1903 and was transferred to Dai Nippon in 1916. After World War II, the brewery briefly transferred to private ownership before being nationalized after 1949. After moving to develop an export market in the early 1970s, and then privatizing and merging with two other companies in the early 1990s, Tsingtao Brewery (青岛啤酒厂) was born, becoming the face of Chinese beer to the world, with its distinctive green bottles and cans.

Publication History and Census

This map contains no publication information and is difficult to precisely date, but it looks to be from early in the Japanese occupation period. The location of the Qingdao Shinto Shrine on Mt. Ruohe (or Mt. Wakatsuru 若鶴山, known to the Germans as Mt. Moltke, モルトケ山) is noted as shikichi (敷地), suggesting that the site had been chosen but the shine not yet constructed. The shrine's site was chosen in early 1916 and construction began that May. It was completed in November 1919 to commemorate the five-year anniversary of Japan's capture of the city. The fact that the map includes the Tsingtauer Neueste Nachrichten (青島新報社), which closed in 1914, and German missionary societies (瑞西同善教會, 亞米利加教會, ベルリン教會, and 獨逸加持力教會), who were repatriated after the war, also suggests a date after the start of the Japanese occupation but still during the war. At the same time, institutions are present that were not founded until 1916 (such as the Japanese Christian Association 日本基督教會 and Girls' College 高等女學校), meaning the map can be from no earlier than that date.