No, hes asking how we know that EE corresponds to Qingdao. Anyway, the guitar you bought should have a sticker that says either "Crafted in China" or "Made in Korea".
I might be missing something but why can't you just put the strings through stop-tailpiece-style?
To show what I mean, look at these pics...
Stop Tailpiece wrapped around backwards:
Stop tailpiece normal:
Can't you just do the opposite?
They only used that headstock from 1986-1989 and the Les Paul Standard was introduced in 1989 so you do the math.
Here's a picture from the 1989 Epiphone Catalog:
It came in Cherry Sunburst:
... and Honeyburst:
The serial number was on a sticker on the back of the headstock but it was commonly ripped off:
You must be mistaking the B for a 3. I can't see in your picture. It looks very legit, and I would put it in the '90s probably Korean made. The serial makes no sense though. You should try to get a better pic or figure it out for yourself.
God, look at this abomination:
http://www.guitarofchina.com/popup_image.php?pID=9195&image=0
Although I would like to buy a LP and see how bad it is...