Changdao — the Miaodao archipelago — is a chain of islands lying across the meeting line of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai, between the Shandong and Liaodong peninsulas. Once Shandong's only island county and now administered from Penglai in Yantai, it is a place of sea cliffs and pebble coves, fishing-family guesthouses, wind turbines on the ridgelines, gull colonies on the far isles and spotted seals in spring. Everything depends on the boat: you arrive by ferry or not at all.
