[2] Its building complex now belongs to the North Sea Fleet of the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Navy and the Zijinshan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is part of the Qingdao German Building Complex, a national key cultural relics conservation site.

[3] On July 23, 1896, the German navy Iltis gunboat was hit by the storm and sunk in the waters of the Yongluo Island in Rongcheng, Qingdao.

[4] In 1898, German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen proposed in his book Shandong and its portal Jiaozhou Bay (German: Schantung und seine Eingangspforte Kiautschou) to repurpose the Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory of Qingdao into a scientific research centre with an observatory to observe marine weather.

It’s currently located in office blocks surrounding the Public Security Bureau of Qingdao,[6] and initially served only to observe temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind force, etc.

The institute conducts meteorological observations 3 times per day and reports daily weather maps and forecasts (including storm warnings).

In 1909, the observatory’s operations extended further to include topographic surveys and geomagnetic, seismic, tide and sunspot observations.

According to an annex to the "Shangdong Cases Detailed Agreement" signed by the Chinese and Japanese parties on December 1, Japanese personnel would be granted temporary stay after the handover of the meteorological observatory, including Chinese meteorologists Jiang Bingran, Zhu Kezhen, and astronomer Gao Pingzi, but Japan touted the content of the agreement and refused the handover.

[5][8] In October 1924, the former director of the Qingdao Observatory Iruma Takeshi stated in "the Opinion" that "China already has talents for astronomical and meteorological observation who are able to shoulder responsibility.

The Ministry of Education therefore appointed the Qingdao Observatory as the sole representative of Chinese research institutes in the scientific community to participate in the event.

On August 12, 1930, the Chinese Academy of Sciences held the 15th Annual Conference at the Qingdao National University, during which Cai Yuanpei, Yang Xingfo, Li Shizeng, Zhu Kezhen, Jiang Bingran, Song Chunyi and others jointly proposed first the construction of the Qingdao Aquarium, and then the establishment of the China Ocean Research Institute.

When taking over it after the Sino-Japanese War, he found that the Observatory was devastated, and many instruments had been destroyed by the Japanese military police.

[4][12] After Japan surrendered in August 1945, the Chinese Navy Rear Admiral and the North China Naval Reception Commissioner She Zhenxing began to take charge of the Observatory.

In May 1958, Qingdao Observatory's geomagnetic and seismic related personnel and instruments were transferred to the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Geophysics Institute in Beijing.

Qingdao Observatory's main functions include astronomical observation and science popularisation through events and activities.

The Observatory office building built during the period of German Leased Territory is now the residence of the Marine Hydrological and Meteorological Centre of the Navy’s North Sea Fleet.