Every winter, Qingdao's Zhanqiao Pier is full of seagulls, making it the city's most heartwarming seasonal sight.

The story began in 1994 with a modest hundred birds. Today, there are over 100,000 seagulls. Qingdao's work turned "seagulls soaring over blue seas" into a city symbol.

What started as a simple conservation effort 31 years ago is now a deep civic practice, showing Qingdao's belief in living in harmony with nature.

The tenfold increase in the seagull population is a badge of honor for Qingdao's ecological governance. Once only near Zhanqiao Pier, the gulls now find homes in Tangdao Bay in the Qingdao West Coast New Area and the Jiaozhou Bay wetlands. The city's work even attracts rare birds like the black-headed gull to settle here.

This success comes from a strategy of wetland restoration, changing migratory stopover sites into perfect homes for birds. It shows Qingdao's focus on ecology in its urban development.

This harmony shows a decades-long effort for coexistence between the city and nature. [Photo/Qingdao News]

Visitors feed the wintering seagulls, a cherished tradition from the city's conservation work. [Photo/Qingdao News]

Seagulls fly around Qingdao's Zhanqiao Pier, making a defining winter sight for the city. [Photo/Qingdao News]