May Fourth Square 五四广场
May Fourth Square is a large public square in Qingdao’s central business district. It is located between the new municipal government building and Fushan Bay and is composed of Shizhengting Square, the central square and the coastal park. Named after the nationwide protest May Fourth Movement that started in Qingdao, the square is best recognized by the large “May Wind”, 五月的风, sculpture near the seaside which is the symbol of Qingdao.
The May Wind scupture. @ May Fourth Square
May Fourth Square is about 15mins walk from Qingdao Shangri La. I had some time before a client dinner and so decided to take a walk there in the evening to check it out. The walk through the park was very pleasant. But there are no tall trees here, so I was glad it was close to 5pm and the sun was not blazing like earlier in the day. The walk brought me pass a beautiful city skyline and the building of the famous Tsingtao beer. Qingdao is definitely a very modern city. 
Skyline of Qingdao City
Soon I got to the waterfront. Beyond the May Wind Sculpture is a beautiful promenade with a great view of the waterfront. Many people were hanging around with kids playing along the promenade and park.
Qingdao City Waterfront Promenade
Our client dinner that evening was at Seaview Garden Hotel 海景花园 just a short drive from Shangri La. The hotel is right by the beach. As I was hosting the dinner, we arrived half an hour earlier to make sure that all was ok. What greeted us was a beautiful sunset right on the beach opposite the hotel.
Beautiful Sunset opp Seaview Garden Hotel
Shopping & Lunch @ Qingdao MIXC 万象城
The Qingdao Shangri La Hotel is right next to Qingdao MIXC. With a gross floor area of 450,000 sqm, Qingdao MIXC is one of the largest shopping malls in China and has lots of shops and restaurants. Beside standalone shops, there is a Parkson department store and a supermarket in the basement. It even has an indoor ice skating ring and cinemas. Truly a one-stop family entertainment place.
Ice Skating Arena @ Qingdao Mixc
We decided to have lunch at 牛道 Niudao Beef BBQ before we left Qingdao that afternoon. They have a good variety of different cuts of beef. It was DIY BBQ on a charcoal grill at the table. The beef was tender and tasted great with the dip. We had ordered a vegetable salad and beef soup. But I only like the beef BBQ. The lunch for 5 of us cost RMB876.
BBQ lunch @ Niudao Beef BBQ
Shopping @ Qingdao Airport:
Qingdao is a port city. Thus it has lots of seafood. Qingdao Airport sells a good variety of seafood titbits and frozen seafood like sea cucumber. I bought some cuttlefish snacks as well as prawn snacks. There is also an interesting store selling Sichuan style mala duck neck 鸭脖. It is really spicy and is great with beer. Another speciality of Shandong region is red dates. They are really huge and great to eat as snack or used for cooking. it was a short trip to Qingdao. Gave a sample of what the city offer. Next time, I’ll try to find time to visit the beer museum!
Yummy snacks from Qingdao