rss feedQingdao, the city known for beer, bits of Bavaria and mackerel braised in soy sauce
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Take a close look at this pagoda. You might have seen it before – even if you’ve never traveled to China.
It’s famous because an image of it has been reproduced millions of times on Tsingtao Beer labels and boxes.
Why is any of this important?
On the scale of global events these days, it’s not the most pressing issue.
But I’ve always liked linking places, people or objects to history. So you can tell friends: “It’s a place that still exists.”
About a month ago, I found this nearly decade-old photograph from my trip to Qingdao. I thought about the beer label – and possibly buying some beer.
Then a few days ago, in one of my boxes, I came across a freelance travel piece I wrote for the San Jose Mercury News. The topic: Qingdao, China.
Now, Qingdao has certainly changed since my visit in 2000. Last year, The Los Angeles Times posted a photo gallery of the city, including new additions to its landscape.
But the piece I wrote still gives a good sense of the city’s history and a sense of place.
I managed to get a tour of the Tsingtao Brewery. I didn’t know where it was. So, I went to a local university and talked with the tourism instructors.
They put me in touch with a tourism student. She and I showed up at what was then called the No. 2 Tsingtao Brewery, located at 602 Tailiu Road.
We walked up to the gate. She told the guard I was a travel writer from the United States. Minutes later, we were being escorted on a three-person tour.
And how did I know that the pagoda on the Tsingtao Beer label was real?
In the mid-1980s, I was a student at the University of California at Santa Cruz. For a writing class assignment, I had to interview a student.
Near my dorm lived some older students. As I recall, they were in their 50s and 60s and on campus to continue their learning.
So, I sat down with one of these women for the assignment. She looked at me and asked for some reason – possibly after seeing my face – whether I knew about Qingdao.
“No,” I replied.
She jumped up from her chair and walked me to her refrigerator. She pulled out a bottle of Tsingtao Beer and pointed to the pagoda on the label.
It turned out, she said, that her relative – her dad, if my memory is correct – had worked in Qingdao. And her relative, as I recall, worked on some type of construction or engineering project, possibly around the pagoda.
That’s how she knew about it.
About 15 years later, I stopped in Qingdao to see the pagoda and learn about the city’s history before I returned to California.
Now, if you want to visit Qingdao and the brewery, do your research to get updated information. Places change. I’ve read that there’s a beer museum in the city.
For some nice context and history on the Tsingtao Brewery, Robert Bickers, a professor at the University of Bristol, has posted information here.
My travel article is about 1,300 words.
Yeah, I know, it was back in the day when newspapers were still enjoying good times. By today’s blogging standards, though, some might consider it to be monster length.
So, read it when you can. It will be here.
There is one good thing about finding the print copy in my files. I know what I ate during my visit: Stir-fried clams, cubed mackerel braised in soy sauce and baby octopus fried with oil, spicy green onions and vinegar.
Qingdao is in Shandong province, which also is known in China for its delicious cuisine.
Full article is in this post.
