“This Beer Tastes Really Good”: Nationalism, Consumer Culture and Development of the Beer Industry in Qingdao, 1903-1993

Abstract

Commercial beer brewing in Qingdao began in 1903 when a German-British brewing company opened a brewery in this North China coastal city to produce German-style beer, which was later known as Qingdao (Tsingtao) Beer. During the first decade of its operation, the growth of the factory mainly relied on the consumption of its products by Germans and other Westerners living in Qingdao and other Chinese cities, as beer, a Western alcoholic beverage that just appeared in Chinese market, had yet to be accepted by Chinese people. A century later, however, the beer industry in Qingdao has become a thriving enterprise whose products have been sold to millions of Chinese customers from all walks of life, making Chinese consumption an indispensable factor for its development in the twenty-first century. The German origin of Qingdao Beer has not been forgotten, but it is now overshadowed by the “Chineseness” of this brand of beer, which is manifested by the Chinese management of the industry, the use of locally grown, processed raw materials in its production, and, most of all, its consumption by millions of obsessive Chinese customers.