Qingdao Underwater World – A Marine Marvel

The Underwater Corridor serves as the inaugural exhibit at Qingdao Underwater World, showcasing a variety of marine species native to the Qingdao coastal waters and the Jiaozhou Bay area. Visitors can marvel at a diverse array of fish species including the popular Parargyrops edita (commonly known as “Bao Gong Yu” or “Chinese Blackthroat”), Sebastiscus marmoratus (commonly known as “Banjiaji” or “Marble Rockfish”), Lophius litulon (commonly known as “Huanyu” or “Sixline Rockfish”), Takifugu obscurus (commonly known as “He Tun” or “Obscure Puffer”), and many more. Most of these exhibits feature fish species bred through artificial propagation. Additionally, visitors can admire the mesmerizing Holothuria leucospilota (commonly known as “Bai Ci Shen” or “White Thorny Sea Cucumber”), highly regarded by northern fishermen as a prized delicacy.

A highlight of Qingdao Underwater World is the expansive Shark Bay exhibit, featuring a large circular cylindrical tank measuring 15 meters in circumference and over 2 meters in height. This impressive tank houses more than ten Hemiscyllium ocellatum (commonly known as “Zhou Chun Yu” or “Epaulette Shark”), a species of cartilaginous fish belonging to the Hemiscylliidae family. Epaulette sharks are benthic fish found in continental and island shelves, often inhabiting shallow waters near river mouths or harbors. They primarily feed on small fish and crustaceans and are ovoviviparous. In China, they are distributed in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, northeastern and southwestern waters of Taiwan, and occasionally encountered in the South China Sea.

Spanning an impressive length of 82.4 meters, the Underwater Tunnel is a marvel of engineering crafted from bonded acrylic glass. Setting a precedent in China, Qingdao Underwater World incorporates a variety of tunnel structures, including 180-degree conventional windows, 254-degree panoramic windows, 360-degree cylindrical windows, and flat windows, offering visitors a panoramic view of marine life from all angles. The tunnel floor consists of both moving walkways and pedestrian paths, providing visitors with the freedom to stroll or pause at their leisure.

Beneath the tunnel’s translucent canopy flows over 3,000 tons of seawater, home to thousands of species and tens of thousands of live marine organisms sourced from around the world, including many rare and exotic specimens. At the tunnel’s terminus, visitors are treated to a unique sight – a sunken pirate ship, silently resting on the ocean floor, now transformed into a playground for marine inhabitants.

The Ship Cabin Passage, stretching approximately 30 meters in length, offers a distinctive immersive experience reminiscent of a sunken pirate ship. The walls of the passage faithfully mimic the deck of a pirate vessel, while the floor is divided into two sections: the front half, aptly named “Walking on Thin Ice,” creates the illusion of walking on the ocean floor through the use of glass flooring, coral sand, and clever lighting effects. The latter half employs a suspended wooden structure supported by a steel frame, inducing a sense of drifting and instability as visitors traverse the passage, enhancing the sensation of being aboard a sunken ship.

The Underwater Theater stands as the largest exhibition hall at Qingdao Underwater World. Its right side features an expansive flat display window, measuring 14.4 meters in length and 3.8 meters in height, offering visitors a mesmerizing view of aquatic performances such as “Dance with Sharks” and “Mermaid.” The “Dance with Sharks” performance creates a harmonious scene where humans gracefully interact with golden trevally, stingrays, eagle rays, and sharks, choreographed to a ten-minute underwater song and dance composition comprising three segments. Accompanied by rock music, waltzes, and tango, the golden trevally, eagle rays, and sharks elegantly dance alongside divers. The “Mermaid” performance, a dreamlike rendition of the classic fairy tale, utilizes modern audiovisual technologies such as sound, light, electricity, and animation, combining high-tech methods with live underwater performances to recreate the romantic love story of a mermaid princess and a prince.

The centerpiece of the central performance hall is the monolithic acrylic cylinder display tank, soaring 8 meters in height and boasting a diameter of 5 meters, earning it the moniker “Sea God’s Needle.” This cylindrical marvel, in conjunction with the opposite “Undersea Dragon Palace,” forms an immersive underwater landscape, seamlessly blending the terrestrial and celestial realms. The top outer ring of the cylinder employs new technologies such as optoelectronic projection to project vibrant lights onto the tank’s outer ring, creating a kaleidoscopic world in harmony with the coral landscaping and aquatic life within.

Zhanqiao Pier and Huilan Pavilion

Xiaoyushan Park

Qingdao Folk Museum

Qingdao Post and Telecommunications Museum

Qingdao German Prison Site Museum

Xiaoqingdao (Little Qingdao)

Qingdao Luxun Park