{"id":5373,"date":"2011-07-30T20:11:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-31T00:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=5373"},"modified":"2011-08-03T00:25:07","modified_gmt":"2011-08-03T04:25:07","slug":"qingdaobeerfestival-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/qingdaobeerfestival-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Qingdao Beer Festival (\u9752\u5c9b\u5564\u9152\u8282)"},"content":{"rendered":"

About a month into my first stint in China<\/strong> (\u4e2d\u56fd – zh\u014dng gu\u00f3), I suffered from a case of itchy feet.\u00a0 While I had moved here to work, my job was only meant to be a means to an end \u2013 to fund my adventures.\u00a0 My first few weeks in \u5317\u4eac had been a roller coaster, to say the very least, as I made the decision to leave the company I was with to find my own job and apartment.\u00a0 In order to celebrate, and to relieve some of the stress that had been acquired in the move, it was time to travel <\/strong>(\u65c5\u884c – l\u01da x\u00edng).\u00a0 Seeing as how I had just paid rent<\/strong> (\u79df\u91d1 – z\u016b j\u012bn) for three months<\/strong> (\u4e09\u4e2a\u6708 – s\u0101n g\u00e8 yu\u00e8), plus a deposit<\/strong> (\u62bc\u91d1 – y\u0101 j\u012bn), my wallet was not exactly thick.\u00a0 With National Day<\/strong> (\u56fd\u5e86\u8282<\/strong> – gu\u00f3 q\u00ecng ji\u00e9) and the ensuing time off fast approaching, I knew I had to act quickly.\u00a0 Always the thrifty traveler, I searched the internets far and wide until I finally found a cheap plane ticket<\/strong> (\u4fbf\u5b9c\u7684\u98de\u673a\u7968 – pi\u00e1n yi de f\u0113i j\u012b pi\u00e0o) bound for the coastal city of Qingdao<\/strong> (\u9752\u5c9b – q\u012bng d\u01ceo), the home of China\u2019s most famous<\/strong> (\u6709\u540d<\/strong> – y\u01d2u m\u00edng) beer<\/strong> (\u5564\u9152 – p\u00ed ji\u01d4).\u00a0 It should be noted here that the actual product still bears the outdated Wade-Giles spelling for the city, Tsingtao.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let this confuse you, as they are one in the same\u2026<\/p>\n

As an avid beer drinker, I was excited at the prospect of visiting \u9752\u5c9b.\u00a0 Once I found out that there would actually be a special event \u2013 the Qingdao Beer Festival<\/strong> (\u9752\u5c9b\u5564\u9152\u8282 – q\u012bng d\u01ceo p\u00ed ji\u01d4 ji\u00e9) \u2013 going on at the same time, I was downright thrilled.\u00a0 Joining me on the trip would be my good friend<\/strong> (\u597d\u670b\u53cb – h\u01ceo p\u00e9ng y\u01d2u), Tim.\u00a0 Seeing as how a majority of the three weeks we had known each other had been spent drinking beer, this trip seemed like a logical decision.\u00a0 Before we could embark on our journey, we did have some work to do, as we had to move<\/strong> (\u642c\u5bb6 – b\u0101n ji\u0101 \u2013 lit. move house).\u00a0 We packed up our worldly possessions, moved them across town to the new digs, and set out with a HOP, skimp and a jump, excited about what was ON TAP for us that weekend.<\/p>\n

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Flying over Qingdao<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/em>Before we get into my fuzzy memories of what happened on that particular trip, let\u2019s learn a little bit of history<\/strong> (\u5386\u53f2 – l\u00ec sh\u01d0) about Qingdao.\u00a0 Way back in the day, during the Qing Dynasty, the government equipped the city to defend against naval attacks.\u00a0 This caught the attention of Germany<\/strong> (\u5fb7\u56fd – d\u00e9 gu\u00f3), who decided they wanted Qingdao for themselves.\u00a0 From 1898-1914, the German navy used the city as a base.\u00a0 Surely feeling a bit homesick, they decided to bring a little bit of Germany to China, and thus the Tsingtao Brewery was born.<\/div>\n

Now that the history lesson is out of the way, let\u2019s jump back to 2008, shall we?<\/p>\n

Seeing as how this was the first time<\/strong> (\u7b2c\u4e00\u6b21 – d\u00ec y\u012b c\u00ec) for both of us traveling in China, it was bound to be an interesting experience no matter what happened.\u00a0 At the time, our combined level of Chinese was probably as good as a one-year old native speaker.\u00a0 Wait, no, never mind\u2026 I don\u2019t want to sell one-year old Chinese kids short.\u00a0 We had been relying on friends to get us around and feed us in Beijing, and now we were being thrown out into the wild to fend for ourselves.<\/p>\n

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Calligraphy in the sand.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Beach and skyline of Qingdao.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/em>Our first step was to check-in<\/strong> (\u5165\u4f4f<\/strong> – r\u00f9 zh\u00f9) to our hostel.\u00a0 Upon checking in, we were promptly offered a free bottle of Tsingtao.\u00a0 I already liked Qingdao.\u00a0 Next up, we decided to take a stroll along the beach<\/strong> (\u6d77\u6ee9 – h\u01cei t\u0101n) to take in the view of the Yellow Sea<\/strong> (\u9ec4\u6d77<\/strong> – hu\u00e1ng h\u01cei).\u00a0 Shortly into our casual stroll, I couldn\u2019t help but notice the throngs of Chinese tourists playing with the sand and rocks near the shore.\u00a0 Later on, I would learn that Qingdao is a huge tourist destination for people in China; many of whom are from the countryside and are visiting a beach for their very first time.\u00a0 I suppose their fascination with rocks and sand is justified.<\/div>\n

Walking around made us both thirsty<\/strong> (\u6e34 – k\u011b), so we decided to make our way to the beer festival.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure we managed to get ourselves there by entering a cab armed with multiple bottles of Tsingtao and simply pointing to them.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fair bet that our driver had already escorted a few \u8001\u5916 to the festival that weekend, and as such, was used to this game of charades.<\/p>\n

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The gate to obliteration.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Working hard at the Beer Festival.<\/p><\/div>\n

Entering the festival grounds at around 3 p.m., we were expecting a raucous party full of red-faced Chinese men eager to give us beer.\u00a0 We were wrong.\u00a0 It was clear that we were too early<\/strong> (\u592a\u65e9\u4e86 – t\u00e0i z\u01ceo le), as the scene resembled more of a kiddie carnival than the movie \u201cBeer Fest.\u201d\u00a0 We even saw a table full of vendors all fast asleep.\u00a0 Although this was a slight disappointment, we weren\u2019t going to let it ruin our good time.\u00a0 Determined to have our share of debauchery and shenanigans, we went off in search of \u5564\u9152.\u00a0 Having spent the previous three weeks drinking uncanny amounts of Tsingtao in Beijing, we were hoping to find something different to cleanse our palette. While we were able to find some Belgian beer<\/strong> (\u6bd4\u5229\u65f6\u5564\u9152 – b\u01d0 l\u00ec sh\u00ed p\u00ed ji\u01d4), it was too expensive<\/strong> (\u592a\u8d35\u4e86 – t\u00e0i gu\u00ec le), especially considering our financial situation, which was not exactly ideal.\u00a0 While attempting to haggle<\/strong> (\u8ba8\u4ef7\u8fd8\u4ef7<\/strong> – t\u01ceo ji\u00e0 hu\u00e1n ji\u00e0) with the vendor, we noticed that his mini-kegs of beer were warm.\u00a0 Obviously, this turned us off, and we informed him of our decision to shop elsewhere.\u00a0 Before we could leave, the man informed us that it was only the outside of the keg that was warm, and that the beer inside was actually ice cold.\u00a0 This was just insulting.\u00a0 Sure, we were dumb \u8001\u5916 utterly lost and confused in China, but for him to insult our beer intelligence really hit below the belt.<\/div>\n

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My personal favorite, "Hymn", as performed by Music.<\/p><\/div>\n

About ready to give up all hope, we finally stumbled upon a small tent offering up 5 RMB<\/strong> (\u4e94\u5757 – w\u01d4 ku\u00e0i) bottles of Tsingtao, a wide variety of kebabs<\/strong> (\u4e32- chu\u00e0n), and, the icing on the cake, karaoke <\/strong>(\u5361\u62c9OK – k\u01ce l\u0101 OK).\u00a0 Our spirits lifted, we grabbed a seat, loaded up on \u5564\u9152 and \u4e32 and grabbed the song list.\u00a0 This public karaoke had me excited, as opposed to the private rooms of Beijing KTVs.\u00a0 Coming from the US, I had been used to (and actually enjoyed) the whole \u201chumiliating yourself in front of strangers\u201d aspect of karaoke, so this was more up my aley.\u00a0 When we started to sing songs<\/strong> (\u5531\u6b4c – ch\u00e0ng g\u0113), the tent was practically empty.\u00a0 After word spread that two \u8001\u5916 were making fools of themselves on stage, more and more people started to trickle in.\u00a0 With the addition of our German friends<\/strong> (\u5fb7\u56fd\u670b\u53cb – d\u00e9 gu\u00f3 p\u00e9ng y\u01d2u), the tent was suddenly full.\u00a0 I considered asking the proprietors of the tent for free beer, seeing as how we had brought a massive crowd to them, but my Chinese wasn\u2019t good enough.<\/div>\n

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Apparently Tsingtao is the beer of choice at the White House.<\/p><\/div>\n