The Jiaozhou Bay (, ) is a sea gulf located in Qingdao Prefecture of Shandong Province. It was a former German colonial concession from 1898 until 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.

Geography

Jiaozhou Bay is located on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula in East China. It separates Huangdao District from Qingdao City and borders on Jiaozhou City and Jiaonan City.

The bay is 32 km long and 27 km wide with a surface area of 362 km²; approximately two-thirds the area of 100 years ago. According to official data, the surface area has been decreased from 560 km² during 1928 to 362 km² by 2003 due to sustained land reclamation activities in recent decades. The marine species also decreased by two-thirds during the last 50 years due to urban and industrial development and growth of adjacent areas around the bay.

Jiaozhou Bay is a natural inlet of the sea, with 10 to 15 meters depth to the seabed and deeper, dredged channels to three major ports around the bay, Qingdao, Huangdao and Hongdao, all ice-free during winter.

History

Jiaozhou Bay was known formerly as Jiao'Ao. The area became known widely to Europeans after a lease for 99 years was concluded by the German Empire during 1898 with the Qing government of China.
Main article: Jiaozhou Bay concession
The Republic of China declared war on the German Empire on 23 August 1914, the day of Japan’s declaration, after an ultimatum for unconditional German evacuation of Kiautschou had expired. China then canceled the German lease for Jiaozhou Bay. The area was occupied subsequently by British and Japanese forces after the Siege of Tsingtao. As an ally of the victors, China expected the formal return of the region at the end of hostilities. However, the Treaty of Versailles acceded to Japanese claims at the Paris Peace Conference and assigned all German Pacific territories and islands north of the equator, including Jiaozhou Bay, to Japan. This arrangement caused China-wide protests known as the "May Fourth Movement," which is regarded as a significant event of modern Chinese history.
as a result, the Beiyang government refused to sign the Treaty.
See: Shandong Problem

The Connection Project

Jiaozhou Bay is situated wholly within Qingdao prefecture. Counterclockwise, the bordering divisions are: Shinan District, Shibei District, Sifang District, Licang District, Chengyang District, Jiaozhou City, Jiaonan City and Huangdao District. The entrance to the bay is 6.17 km wide. During 1993, Qingdao City decided to build a traffic corridor for the Jiaozhou Bay region, which includes a tunnel under the inlet and a bridge across Jiaozhou Bay. During December 2006 the construction process started with an estimated completion target of 2010.

• The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge

The future Jiaozhou Bay Bridge will be 35.4 km long, which will surpass the cross-sea bridge Donghai Bridge in length, but will be shorter than the longest, Hangzhou Bay Bridge. The total investment will be approximately 10 billion yuan (~US$1.5 billion). It is estimated that it will shorten travel time from Qingdao to the outlying region by more than half and relieve pressure on the existing Jiaozhou Bay Expressway.

• The Qing-Huang Tunnel

The tunnel will connect Qingdao with Huangdao with a length of over 7 km; with 3 billion yuan (~US$440 million) budgeted for its construction. After completion, travel time is estimated at approximately 10 minutes by automobile from Qingdao to Huangdao District.

Footnotes, sources and references