Jiaozhou Bay
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Jiaozhou Bay
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese: | 膠州灣 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese: | 胶州湾 | ||||||||||
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| German name | |||||||||||
| German: | Kiautschou-Bucht | ||||||||||
The Jiaozhou Bay (simplified Chinese: 胶州湾, 36°7′24.44″N 120°14′44.3″E / 36.1234556°N 120.245639°E) is a sea gulf located in Qingdao Prefecture of Shandong Province. It was a former German colonial concession from 1898 to 1914.
Jiaozhou is the main town of the bay area in the history, which was romanized as Kiaochow, Kiauchau or Kiao-Chau in English and Kiautschou in German.
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[edit] Geography
Jiaozhou Bay is located on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula in East China. It separates Huangdao District from Qingdao City, and also border with Jiaozhou City and Jiaonan City.
The bay is 32km long and 27 km wide, has a surface area of 362 km², which is about 2/3 of 100 years ago. According to rescources from China's State Oceanic Administration, the surface area has shrunk from 560 km² in 1928[1] to 362 km² in 2003 due to sustaining land reclamation activities in recent decades. The marine species also decreased in 2/3 within 50 years[2] due to the urban and industrial development in adjacent areas.
Jiaozhou bay is a natural sea-port, with the 10 to 15 meters depth of sea-routes. There're three major sea-ports around the bay, Qingdao, Huangdao and Hongdao, which are all ice-free in winter.
[edit] History
Jiaozhou Bay used to be called Jiao'Ao. It starts to be widely known after leased by Qing government to German Empire in 1897.
Main article: Jiaozhou Bay concession
The Republic of China declared war on the German Empire during World War I and cancelled the lease of Jiaozhou Bay in 1914. After the war, China took it for granted of taking back the region as a member of the victorious side. However, in the Treaty of Versailles, the allied powers decided to grant the region to Japan. This decision led to nation-wide protests in China as the "May Fourth Movement", which is widely seen as a significant event in the modern history of China. Under the pressure of the whole country, the Beiyang government refused to sign the Treaty in the end.
See: Shandong Problem
[edit] The Connection Project
Jiaozhou bay is wholy situated in Qingdao prefecture. Anti-clockwisely, the bordering divisions are: Shinan District, Shibei District, Sifang District, Licang District, Chengyang District, Jiaozhou City, Jiaonan City and Huangdao District. The inlet of the bay is only 6.17km wide, but it used to take one hour by vehicle from one end to the other. In 1993, Qingdao City decide to build the connection project of Jiaozhou Bay, which includes a tunnel under the inlet and a bridge across the bay. in December 26, 2006, the construction finally started, and it's supposed to be finished in 2010.
- The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge
The future Jiaozhou Bay Bridge will be 35.4km long, which will surpass the currently World No.2 cross-sea bridge Donghai Bridge, but still shorter than World No.1 Hangzhou Bay Bridge. The total investment will be 9.938 billion yuan. It'll shorten the transportation time from Qingdao to the developing region by half, and release the pressure of the Jiaozhou Bay Expressway.
- The Qing-Huang Tunnel
The tunnel connects Qingdao and Huangdao will be 6.17km long, with a 3.186 billion yuan budgetary cost. After the construction, it'll only take about 10 minutes by vehicle from the main city to Huangdao District.
[edit] Footnotes, sources and references
- ^ "Chorography of Jiao'Ao"
- ^ http://www.soa.gov.cn/hyjww/zghybnew/ywb/webinfo/2008/11/1225332542195401.htm
[edit] External links
- German colonies (in German)
- Jiaozhou Bay Connection Project (in Chinese)
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