One-way Ticket
Christmas and New Year It was the night before Christmas and Qingdao lit and dressed up and became Christmas for the weekend. Trees suddenly springing up out of nowhere with plastic beer bottle trees, Tsingtao beer, beer garlands. With this liking for Christmas, last minute Qingdao weddings happened outside St. Michael’s Cathedral. This monument built by German missionaries, which stands on a hilltop in the centre of Qingdao. A symbol. Since 1934 it has seen wars, peace, and Mao's arrival. The city beacon, like a lighthouse, where weddings and funerals merge. Outside the Cathedral, the courtyard hosts hurdy-gurdy players, street artists, cotton-candy-sellers and starfish on sticks. Pretty girls and lithe boys make wedding vows to love and live forever. Central to Qingdao and towering far above the rest, it represents the local community and lures the tourists. Loved, adorned and sometimes feared, St. Michael’s neighborhood is a