Beer:

Sold by the large bottle, sometimes a tad too warm or only slightly chilled during the summer months, the leading brand ‘Tsingdao’ (pronounced Ching-Dao –originally a German brew) is sold everywhere.

Most provinces have their favourite brands though. Some provinces, all you’ll see is Yangjing Beer, some like Hans, other provinces absorb Harbin (named after the Northern Chinese city) whenever beer is mentioned. It’s the teams advice however, to opt for Xinjiang’s Wusu beer for the best of the domestic bunch.

These beers go well with street food at night. A big bottle of such beer typically costs 5-8RMB from your local shops. A bottle can jump to 30RMB or thereabouts in nightclubs. The better places serve these bottles chilled with real glasses. Simpler places will supply disposable, cheap, plastic cups in holders, which often leak and dribble up your arm. In bars or outdoors eating areas you will usually pay at the end, though this can vary, and in nightclubs you will always pay upfront. It is customary to share the bottles with all friends topping up all glasses after each refill (drinking solely from your own bottle is considered a tad selfish or just unfriendly).

Often, every time you drink you should toast to all, which makes the process of slow sipping become a hardened activity of downing small glasses of beer for much of the night. Each toast is called a ‘gam-bay (gambei)’ (a down in one) or you can opt for a ‘pang-bay’ (just a little). Gambays are the norm and it is a great sign of respect to those you are toasting with. If you get too much head (froth) in your small plastic cup on filling up, one technique, which may sound mad, is to place a wooden chopstick upright in the centre of your cup which may reduce the froth a bit.

Either way, drinking out is a very pleasant experience during the summer evening months. The Chinese are not big daytime drinkers though, so don’t expect many bars open throughout the day, even at weekends. There are restaurants and shops where you can easily buy a bottle or two though and sit outside. Also, the Chinese work so hard during the day that there simply isn’t any demand for daytime drinking establishments.

One thing is for sure; you’re going to have a tough time finding real draught beer (fresh from a bar-side pump) outside Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong at local shops and bars. Venture into your city or town centre for bar options and proper draught beer. Finding such delights as draught Guinness can be a challenge.