Jiaozhou Bay
sea
Jiaozhou Bay (German: Kiautschou Bucht; simplified Chinese: 胶州湾; traditional Chinese: 膠州灣; pinyin: Jiāozhōu Wān) is a bay located in the prefecture-level city of Qingdao (Tsingtau), Shandong Province, China.
The bay has historically been romanized as Kiaochow, Kiauchau or Kiao-Chau in English and Kiautschou in German.
Geography and ecology
Jiaozhou Bay is a natural inlet of the Yellow Sea, with a depth of 10 to 15 metres (33 to 49 ft) and deeper, dredged channels to three major ports around the bay: Qingdao, Huangdao, and Hongdao, all of which are ice-free during winter.
The bay is located on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula in East China, and separates Huangdao District from Qingdao City and borders on Jiaozhou City.
The bay is 32 kilometres (17 nmi; 20 mi) long and 27 kilometres (15 nmi; 17 mi) wide with a surface area of 362 square kilometres (106 sq nmi; 140 sq mi), approximately two-thirds the area of 100 years ago. According to official data, the surface area has decreased from 560 square kilometres (163 sq nmi; 216 sq mi) in 1928 to 362 square kilometres (106 sq nmi; 140 sq mi) by 2003 due to sustained land reclamation activities in recent decades.
The marine species have also decreased by two-thirds during the last 50 years due to urban and industrial development and growth of adjacent areas around the bay. Out of 170 species of organisms found in the northwestern part of the basin during the 1970s, only 17 were found in 1989. False killer whales still occasionally appear in the waters which were a regular range for the species until the 1980s. On the other hand, Jiaozhou Bay may serve as a suitable location for studying recoveries of coastal marine ecosystems.
The public source identifies “Jiaozhou Bay” as sea. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jiaozhou.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Jiaozhou Bay”, the useful work is to connect “sea” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q489170. VIAF identifies the subject as 251505268. Authority coordinates are 36.123, 120.246. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1928, 2003 and 1989.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Jiaozhou Bay” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.