The stone house, which marks China's base leveling origin, is located on Guanxiang Hill in Shinan district. [Photo/WeChat account: qdweishinan]

An eight-member team reached the summit of Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West, on May 27 to remeasure the height of the world's highest peak. Remarkably, the stone house on Guanxiang Hill in Shinan district, Qingdao marks the base leveling origin in China.

The base leveling origin refers to the point at the base of the mountain from which the mountain's height is measured. According to national regulations, the Yellow Sea is the reference point for altitude measurement, however, a terrestrial site is also needed to get stable results. 

In 1954, Guanxiang Hill was designated as this site, due to its developed detection technology in astronomy and geomagnetism, as well as years of tidal observation data.

Several innovative scientific research projects on astronomy, meteorology and oceanography were carried out at the Tsingtao Observatory in early years, and the region is home to a number of marine scientists.