Laoshan Stories Renewed | At Thirty, the Beer Festival Is an Eternal Invitation from Qingdao

Beer represents a convivial, communal drinking culture, and Qingdao has blended beer with the city’s heritage and festive events to bring to life this grand mountain-and-sea gathering — the Qingdao International Beer Festival.

Beer is an import for Qingdao. The connection dates back to 1897 when Qingdao was opened as a free port by the Germans. Due to limited sealing technology and rocking during the voyage, beer shipped by sea often spoiled by the time it arrived. Astute British and German merchants sensed a business opportunity.

To make production and supply more convenient, in 1903, British and German investors jointly established the "Germania Brewery Qingdao Co., Ltd." at No. 56 Dengzhou Road. At the time, its annual production capacity was 2,000 tons, and it was considered the largest brewery in the Far East during the Republic of China era.

The word "beer" in Chinese (啤酒, píjiǔ) was actually coined by the people of Qingdao. Originally, the Chinese character "啤" did not exist. It first appeared in the 1922 book "A Sketch of Qingdao," where "啤酒" was recorded. Over a century ago, locals transliterated the German "BIER" as "皮酒" (píjiǔ, literally "skin wine"). Later, because drinking it had a refreshing effect on the mind and body, it was changed to "脾酒" (píjiǔ, "spleen wine"). Over time, it evolved, and after the 1940s it was uniformly called "啤酒," which remains today.

Beer and Qingdao seemed like a match made a little later, yet it felt long overdue. Thanks to Qingdao's unique natural advantages — the mineral-rich Laoshan spring water, barley, yeast, hops, and other quality ingredients — the beer had a mellow, pure taste, quickly winning favor among the upper class at the time.

Liang Shih-chiu, in his essay "Remembering Qingdao," praised: "A steak accompanied by a large glass of draft beer, one can vaguely taste the heroic spirit of Fan Kuai feasting on wine and meat." (Fan Kuai was a warrior famed for his hearty appetite.)

In the early 1980s, bottled beer in Qingdao was rationed — only six bottles per household during Spring Festival and National Day, obtainable only with coupons. Anyone who could have a sip of beer at home was the envy of neighbors. Even in the 1990s, carrying a case of beer to ask for a favor was considered a generous gift.

At thirty years old, the Qingdao International Beer Festival is an eternal invitation extended by the people of Qingdao. As reform and opening-up deepened, after Deng Xiaoping visited Laoshan in 1979, Qingdao — one of China’s earliest coastal cities opened to the outside world — made developing tourism around Laoshan a top priority.

From 1991 to 1993, the festival was in an experimental stage, lacking experience and a fixed venue. After abandoning a mountaineering festival that couldn't be held because Laoshan's main peak wasn't open to the public, and two unsuccessful "Qingdao International Fishing Events," the city chose the Qingdao International Beer Festival as the signature event to raise Qingdao's profile and boost tourism.

And rightly so. In the early summer of 1991, the beer festival became the most desirable lifestyle in Qingdao. That year, the first Qingdao International Beer Festival opened — a carnival between mountains and sea that was truly the premier domestic festival at the time and the largest beer festival in Asia.

Suddenly, the beer festival was on everyone's lips and became the top choice for gatherings with friends. Many young couples chose this grand occasion to celebrate the beginning of their lifelong happiness by the mountain and sea, witnessed by guests from all corners of the world.

In that era of relative scarcity, the Qingdao Brewery introduced time-limited free-flow beer drinking for the first time. Later, in the second and third editions, large-scale song-and-dance performances and a sea-and-fire gala brought the whole city to life, letting tens of thousands experience the magic of the festival.

On August 14, 1994, the opening of the fourth Qingdao International Beer Festival marked the event’s official settling in Laoshan, taking place at the Qingdao International Beer City within the Shilaoren Tourist Resort.

In 1995, the Qingdao International Beer Festival was listed by the National Tourism Administration as a "National Key Tourism Festival for Overseas Promotion." With upgraded cultural and sports activities and reforms in festival organization, from the seventh edition in 1997 onward, the festival was elevated from a local event to a national-level one, further increasing its influence and becoming the most important and distinctive summer tourism product of Qingdao.

For the eighth edition, the Beer City was modeled after Disneyland in the U.S., featuring a musical fountain area, a children’s amusement zone, a youth amusement zone, and a variety of exotic beer houses and castles built for a more international festival experience.

From 2003 to 2014, the Qingdao International Beer Festival's influence continued to grow, with the beer-centric celebration deeply embedded in people’s hearts. With an international approach to festival planning, additional venues, continuously improved service quality, and the establishment of three major carnival forms — drinking revelry, performance revelry, and carnival revelry — the slogan "Qingdao toasts the world" rang out globally.

The festival's success also spurred the development of Qingdao's night economy, changing the tourism lifestyle of the time. The festival nights shone like a bright pearl, scattering brilliance across the mountain-and-sea landscape at 36 degrees north latitude.

From 2014 to the present, the Qingdao International Beer Festival has blossomed across the entire region, radiating its charm amid the mountains and sea. From 41 participating breweries in the first edition to over 1,400 beer brands in the 29th; from 300,000 visitors then to 7.2 million now… Today, the Qingdao International Beer Festival is the largest beer celebration in the world, with growing influence and reach.

The festival’s taking root in Laoshan has made people at home and abroad realize: Laoshan is not only a famous Taoist mountain; the Laoshan district itself is a vibrant land that holds half of Qingdao’s tourism resources. And the rapid, healthy growth of the festival has enriched Laoshan’s tourism both in form and substance.

The interweaving of beer culture and mountain-sea culture continually enriches the ways people travel to and check in at Qingdao and Laoshan. In Laoshan, the beer festival has truly achieved a region-wide celebration and timeless passion.

By the Yellow Sea and at the foot of Laoshan Mountain, a beer festival with powerful vitality has been nurtured between mountains and sea. It records the city’s development and changes, and preserves countless joyful moments of hearty toasts…

This year marks the 30th birthday of the Qingdao International Beer Festival. Laoshan looks forward to meeting you, to join this mountain-and-sea beer rendezvous.