Connected History: the City and Brewery of Qingdao
When I originally put Qingdao on my itinerary, there was one real draw. It had been a German colony during the Age of Imperialism in China and represented one of the best examples of foreign influence during the tumultuous time when the last Chinese Dynasty was crumbling under the pressure of internal divisions, foreign pressures, and corruption. Two of the things that stand out most among the German legacy are the beer and the architecture.
(For those who may question the decision to discuss the topic of a beer brewery on a website meant for students, I would like to admit that I’ve given it quite a bit of thought. In my opinion as an educator, we cannot ignore the realities of the world, especially when the realities hold such important historic lessons and provide such a terrific window into the history of cultural diffusion (the exchange of ideas and technology between people). The reality is that beer was a part of life, and still is in many countries. By examining the history and experiences of the people in the city of Qingdao and their brewery, we can learn a lot about Chinese interaction with the Western world.)
Before I visited, I had heard that the Germans who occupied Qingdao were a bit homesick, so they decided to build a brewery to help them feel a bit more at home. They also built a church and homes that represented German styles of the time, and imported much about their way of life. Visiting Qingdao would be a great opportunity to see physical remnants of a time when European powers were attempting to carve up China into their own “spheres of influence”.
After a few days in town exploring the beaches, pier, and architecture, I decided to go on the tour of the brewery, where I really saw how the history of the brewery reflected the overall history of the region. Originally built in 1903 with all of the modern equipment of the time and guided the brewery’s operation by the strict Reinheitsgebot (German Beer Purity Law), the brewery was both a terrific example of modern engineering and cultural imperialism. It was also a sign that the Germans planned to take advantage of a weak Chinese dynasty and stay around for a while. The result was Tsingtao (the name of the beer is spelled differently than the modern city name because of different transliteration systems), the most famous beer in China.
Ownership changed during World War I, when Japan took over the German colonies in China, but the brewery continued to run under Japanese direction with similar quality results until 1945. When China became an independent, communist country, they didn’t seem to interfere with the operation of the brewery (at least that’s what was presented in the Communist Party sanctioned museum at the brewery). The brewery continued to sell beer to its usual customers until 1972 when President Richard Nixon visited China in an unprecedented opening of trade between the U.S. and China, and Tsingdao was sold for the first time in the U.S. When the Chinese government opened up even further in the 1980s, the brewery expanded production and started to focus on expanding and gaining profits (which are not encouraged under communism). By their 100 year anniversary, Tsingdao had expanded into the biggest brewery in China, and the most successful exporter of Chinese beer. Today, the brewery has a “strategic agreement” with Anheuser-Busch (the producer of Budweiser), which is the largest beer producer in the world.
When I arrived, one of the local quirks was particularly striking though. The shops in Qingdao sell beer in a bag.
I was intrigued, and after a few days, decided that I had to order one. I walked up to a shop with a number of beer kegs in front of their door, and asked for one order of beer. The owners of the shop promptly tapped a new keg, took the plastic bag, and filled a portion of it with beer. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The bag didn’t drip, and the beer was a bit foamy, but it seemed quite “normal”. I was the only one who seemed stunned. After filling the bag to the appropriate point, the man weighed it on a spring scale, and charged me 6 yuan (about 85 cents). As I walked home to my hostel, I couldn’t believe I was caring a plastic bag of beer.
After the very short walk, I poured myself a mug from my bag to see how it tasted… unsurprisingly, it tasted Tsingtao did when I drank it out of a normal bottle. Since I had enough left over for a second mug, I offered the rest to a friend I had met and we drank the beer together. It was quite an experience, to be sure.
