As one of Asia’s most influential beer carnivals, this overseas session was hosted at the Garden of the Reclaimed Moon (De Yue Yuan), a classical Chinese garden within Berlin’s Gardens of the World. Centered on the official theme “Qingdao, Ganbei (Cheers) with the World”, the event served as a two-way dialogue platform bridging Eastern and Western beer cultures.
Free admission was offered to global visitors, drawing a turnout of over 10,000 attendees. Tourists of all nationalities and local Berliners gathered in the garden to sample Tsingtao Beer and immerse themselves in authentic traditional Chinese culture. Germany is the birthplace of modern beer culture, home to the world-famous Oktoberfest in Munich. Launched in 1991, the Qingdao International Beer Festival has thrived for more than three decades, integrating German brewing heritage with Qingdao’s coastal flair to forge an unparalleled aesthetic of Oriental carnival celebration. This overseas launch was far more than a simple export of festivities; it marked profound integration of two beer cultures sharing the same origins. Against a backdrop of Chinese pavilions, terraces and winding corridors, refreshing Tsingtao beer delivered a distinctive experience blending “Oriental gardens with Western brews”. Many German visitors took the chance to learn basic Chinese on site, enthusiastically calling out “Nihao(Hello)! China” and “Ganbei(Cheers!) Qingdao”, while voicing their wishes to travel to Qingdao someday.
European audiences have long held limited awareness of Chinese urban festivals. This Berlin event stands as a pivotal milestone for Qingdao’s city IP to deepen its European footprint and elevate its international standing. Breaking the regional confines of a domestic festival, it opens a brand-new window for overseas audiences to discover Qingdao, Shandong Province and China as a whole. Moving beyond mere cultural performances, the event enabled multi-dimensional linkage between cultural tourism and economic cooperation. Leveraging the convenience of China’s visa-free entry policy for German citizens, it continuously promoted the overseas tourism brands Friendly Shandong and Charming Qingdao.
On one hand, the event showcased Qingdao’s abundant cultural tourism resources and industrial strengths, capturing the attention of international tourists and investors alike, boosting the quality of inbound tourism and converting festival foot traffic into momentum for urban development. On the other hand, Qingdao actively drew on Germany’s mature operational experience in the beer industry to upgrade its domestic beer sector and festival brand, advancing the internationalization and professionalization of Qingdao’s beer cultural industry.
A glass of Tsingtao Beer binds mountains and seas in sentiment; a cross-border carnival connects hearts between China and foreign lands. This overseas debut represents a vital breakthrough for Chinese urban festival brands. Moving forward, relying on festivals as carriers and culture as its core, the Qingdao International Beer Festival will deepen people-to-people exchanges between China and Germany, letting bilateral friendship grow richer alongside the aroma of beer, and continuously presenting the unique allure of China’s coastal city to the entire world.
Editor: Song Bohong/ Wang Yulin
