Reverse
皇紀2598 - 1938
支那事変記念 - China Incident Commemorative
青島航空部隊 - Qingdao /a.k.a. Tsingtao/ Air Corps
After a minor British naval attack on the German concession in Shandong in 1914, Japanese troops occupied the city and the surrounding province during the Siege of Tsingtao (Qingdao) after Japan's declaration of war on Germany in accordance with the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. China protested against Japan's violation of her neutrality but was not able to interfere in the military operations. The decision of the Paris Peace Conference and the Versailles Treaty negotiations not to restore Chinese rule over the previous foreign concessions in Qingdao after the Great War triggered the May Fourth Movement (4 May 1919) of anti-imperialism, nationalism and cultural identity in China.
The city came under Chinese rule in December 1922, under control of the Republic of China (ROC) established in 1912 after the 1911 Revolution the year before. However, Japan maintained its economic dominance of the railway and the province as a whole. The city became a direct-controlled municipality of the ROC Government in July 1929.
Japan re-occupied Qingdao in 1938, a year after it expanded the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). Kuomintang ROC forces returned after the Japanese surrender in September 1945.