Kiautschou Governor's Hall



Kiautschou Governor's Hall is the former German colonial government building at Qingdao, China.

History
The building was designed by the German architect Friedrich Mahlke (1871 – 1944) and was constructed during the years from 1904 to 1906. It was officially handed over to the administration on April 2, 1906. It has a gross space of 7,500 square meters.

The building originally served as the Kiautschou naval and civil government office and was known as Gouverneurspalast, or the Governor's Palace. After the Siege of Tsingtao in 1914, the building became the Japanese occupation headquarters until 1922, when China regained sovereignty over its province. Before and during World War II, Jioazhou Governor's Hall was again used by the Japanese as the seat of their occupation regime from 1938 to 1945. The building was subsequently used by the Kuomintang government and, after June 1949, by the People's Republic of China. It served as Qingdao's townhall until 1992.