The coastal city of Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province is witnessing a boom in tourism, driven by its cinematic charm and popular filming locations that continue to captivate moviegoers and travelers alike.
With its unique mix of historic European-style architecture and natural coastal beauty, the city has long attracted filmmakers and became the shooting location for many successful domestic films and TV dramas, such as "A Little Red Flower" (2021), "As Beautiful As You" (2024) and the military-themed movie "Operation Leviathan" (2025).
"We came here after watching the movie ["A Little Red Flower"]. The gorgeous sunset here serves as the perfect backdrop for couples like us to pledge our love to each other. I will never forget about this scene for the rest of my life," said a female traveler who recently visited the Taiping Mountain cableway with her boyfriend.
At the China Movie Metropolis in Qingdao, the country's first heavy industrial film base, tourists can experience the movie scenes and even taste the food that appeared in films.
"Tasting this dish reminds us of the TV drama series ["As Beautiful As You"] and is a way for us to pay tribute to our youth and our dreams," said a tourist dining in a restaurant at the base with her friend.
For fans of submarine action blockbuster "Operation Leviathan", a follow-up to the 2018 film "Operation Red Sea", the film's shooting location in Qingdao is a must-see place. Here, visitors can board the "Dragon Whale" submarine featured in the film and engage in a virtual deep-sea battle.
Official data showed that during the National Day holiday from Oct 1 to 8, Qingdao's overall tourism order volume increased by 18 percent year on year.
Qingdao draws crowds with cinematic charm, booming coastal tourism
Qingdao draws crowds with cinematic charm, booming coastal tourism
China's economic development picked up steadily in April, with key indicators pointing to broad-based improvements in infrastructure activity and a sharp move of capital toward advanced technology sectors, according to the data released Sunday by the State Information Center(SIC), a think tank under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
The data showed that in the investment landscape, the average operating rate of national construction machinery rose by 3.6 percentage points month on month in April.
Port logistics, heavy lifting, and civil construction all recorded rebounds, signaling steady progress in infrastructure construction.
Concrete equipment, as key construction machinery, saw a notable rebound in activity, with its operating rate increasing by around 5 percentage points both year on year and month on month.
"Municipal infrastructure, transport projects, industrial parks, urban renewal -- all types of projects are being rolled out across the board. For major projects in various regions, efforts are being made to seize the construction window and accelerate the pace. This also reflects that physical investment in infrastructure, industry, and urban construction is picking up speed, and investment vitality is steadily improving," said Shen Chunfeng, a big data expert from iRootech, a company that helps businesses achieve intelligent transformation by applying technologies such as industrial intelligence and embodied intelligent robots.
April marks the peak construction season in many regions.
More than 10 provinces and municipalities, including Anhui, Beijing, Ningxia, and Zhejiang, ranked among the top in terms of comprehensive operating rates. "Domestic engineering construction is moving from localized improvement to nationwide pickup. The coverage of projects starting work has expanded greatly, market activity is broadening, and the positive trend in real economy investment and infrastructure construction is further consolidating," said Shen.
Investment is also moving faster from traditional sectors toward new arenas.
According to fresh data from the SIC, capital investment in frontier areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and humanoid robots jumped 175.2 percent year on year in April.
The value of winning bids for infrastructure projects in data, computing power, and networks rose 61.7 percent year on year, continuing to activate new drivers of economic growth.
"In April, China saw strong investment momentum in frontier fields. Investment activity in digital infrastructure grew rapidly, and the ability of sectors such as AI to attract capital is notable. This shows that, with coordinated efforts from both the government and the market, investment is concentrating more quickly on new tracks -- providing a strong boost to the development of new quality productive forces and steadily strengthening the foundations for high-quality economic development," said Xing Yuguan, an associate researcher of the Big Data Development Department under the SIC.
China’s economic momentum strengthens as infrastructure activity rises, frontier investment surges
