Someone asked me how fortunate do we feel as Shandong natives? Very much so. We would need 3 full days to tell the story of these hand-crafted dishes. Being the origin of the Lu cuisine, we invented the imperial cuisine of China at the Forbidden City of Beijing. Here are our top picks from our culinary journey throughout the 17 regions across Shandong. These are voted by popularity, not by $.

China’s Yellow River seeps into the sea of Dongying, where a vast area of wetland is nurtured. The color of the bushes changes along with the seasons where its best viewed when red leaves blanket over the wetlands. A 20m2 preservation block is kept for birds only. No road is built or even planned, making it one of the few remaining paradises for rare birds across the globe.

Who doesn’t want a nice hot steamed bun to start the day? These buns are a staple for the Chinese cuisine. You can eat a bun for almost every meal! Here in Qingdao, packaging is everything. You can just tell by how old the bun has been made.