The 16th Qingdao International Beer Festival starts on August 12 in Qingdao City, east Shandong Province. Qingdao boasts a beautiful coastline and a pleasing climate in the summer when it's unbearably hot in Beijing. It is also slated to host the sailing matches of the 2008 Olympics. Sounds like a good idea to go and see what happens at this beer festival.

Qingdao International Beer Festival began in 1991. It opens on the second weekend of August each year, in the middle of tourist season in Qingdao, and lasts for 16 days. The festival includes many activities like beer tastings, literary evenings and beer-drinking competitions.

This year's festival will be held in three main venues; Qingdao International Beer Town, Huiquan Plaza and Dengzhoulu beer street.

Qingdao International Beer Town
Located in the Shilaoren National Tourism Resort, Qingdao International Beer Town has been the main event place for the festival since it's 6th season.

It is a top-grade amusement park with large theaters for the festival's literary events, the Qingdao Beer Palace for tastings and contests and over 20 rides and activity centers.

Dengzhoulu Beer Street

Jiajia, 2006 Qingdao Beer Festival's mascot.

Located beside the old Qingdao Beer Factory workshops, reconstructed Dengzhoulu is a bar street that features European style architecture. Tourists can find the freshest beer and all local snacks on this street.

More than 40 restaurants and bars line this 1,000-meter-long street. Among them are Beer House and Beer Palace, as well as some feature bars, like the noisy Oulala and the quiet Jingbar.

In addition to various sculptures of different brands of beer, beer bottles and even the dog Jiajia, the festival's mascot, China's first beer museum is also located on this street. Here tourists can the origin of beer, the long history of Qingdao beer and what a real beerhouse is like.

Huiquan Plaza
Qingdao is the sole partner city of Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. This fact is reflected in Huiquan Plaza's theme sculpture that incorporates the five Olympic rings. During the Beer Festival the Olympic Sail Landscape Sculpture will be unveiled. It's made from abandoned beer cans, which is a good illustration of the green Olympic concept.