Weihai Travel Guide
By admin on 2015-01-14

Weihai (Wēihǎi 威海) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It is the easternmost prefecture-level city in the province and a major seaport. Between 1898-1930, the town was a British colony. Weihai was not developed in the way that Hong Kong, the other British colony in China, was developed, because Weihai fell into Germany's sphere of influence. It was largely used as a naval station and a sanatorium. During the colonial period it was known as Weihaiwai or the Weihai Garrison (Wēihǎi Wèi 威海卫), and sometimes as Port Edward. Weihai borders Yantai (yān tái 烟台) to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east.

The port was once the base for the Beiyang Fleet (běi yáng shuǐ shī 北洋水师) of China during the Qing Dynasty (qīng cháo 清朝). During 1895, the Japanese captured it from the landward side. It was evacuated during 1898.

After Russia leased Port Arthur (on the opposite coast) from China for 25 years during March, 1898, the United Kingdom obtained a lease for Wei Hai Wei which was to exist for as long as the Russians leased Port Arthur. During 1905, when the Japanese assumed ownership of the lease for Port Arthur, the British lease was made to exist as long as the Japanese occupied Port Arthur. Thus the city was part of a territory (c.285 sq mi/740 km2) called "Weihaiwei", which was leased by the United Kingdom from 1898 until October 1, 1930. It was a summer station for the British naval China Station and it was also used as a sanatorium. It became one of two major ports for ships of the Royal Navy in the Far East (the other being Hong Kong in the south).

At the beginning of the lease the territory was administered by a Senior Naval Officer of the Royal Navy. During 1899, administration was transferred to a military and civil commissioner appointed by the War Office in London. The territorial garrison consisted of 200 British troops and a specially constituted Chinese Regiment with British officers. During 1901, it was decided that this base should not be fortified, and administration was transferred to the U.K.'s Colonial Office. A Civil Commissioner was appointed during 1902 to manage the territory, and the Chinese Regiment was disbanded during 1903.

The last British commissioner of Weihaiwei was Reginald Johnston. It was briefly a special administrative region after it was returned to the Republic of China, the successor of the Qing Dynasty. During 1949, Weihaiwei City was established, and was renamed Weihai City after it was occupied by the People's Republic of China.

During recent years, a proposal regarding the territoriality of Weihai during the 1800s was discovered in the British Archives. The proposal, made apparently by Hong Kong governor Sir Frederick Lugard, stipulated that the British would revert Weihai to Chinese rule, and receive perpetual rule of the 1898 leased territories of Hong Kong in return. This proposal was never adopted.

The nickname British sailors gave to this port was "Way High"; it was also sometimes referred to as Port Edward in English.
Weihai City is located in the east end of Shandong Peninsula.It has clear seasons and delightful weather; its environmental quality indexes, such as atmosphere quality, water quality and noises, are all up to the standards of China,which is the first " State Clean City", also the "State Gardens City" and "Model City in Environment Protection", a good place for tourism, summer vacation and health recuperation.

Weihai has beautiful surroundings with mountain and sea, and many relics. Its cleanliness and pleasant weather attract a lot of tourists and is a famous tourist city. In 1997, this city has received tourists from home and abroad up to 4.48 million and 80,000 million person-time respectively, ranking first in Shandong province. There are over tens of scenic spots in the city, of which Liugong Island (liú gōng dǎo 刘公岛) with many State's protected relics in memory of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Chengshantou (chéng shān tóu 成山头) named as "The end of the sky" has a beautiful landscape, where the emperors of Qin and Han Dynasties visited and is the scenic spot at the State level. The scenic spot of Tiechashan (tiě chá shān 铁槎山) is the birthplace of Quanzhenism (quán zhēn jiāo 全真教) branch of Taoism, and have many relics. Rongcheng Swan Lake (róng chéng tiān é hú 荣成天鹅湖) is the largest winter habitat of swans in northern China. There are rich underground spring and more than 70 of natural sea bathing places, and also built four province-class tourist resorts, including Huancui (huán cuì 环翠), Rushan Beach (rǔ shān hǎi tān 乳山海滩), Shidao Bay (shí dǎo wān 石岛湾) of Rongcheng and Swan Lake. There are 56 hotels (one four-star, eleven three-star and seven two-star) with over 9,000 beds. The three cities and one district under its jurisdiction all have star hotels and 18 travel agencies including three international agencies and 15 domestic agencies.