The Beer Festival in Qingdao has a tie in German?

青岛啤酒节与德国有关联?

QINGDAO, China — Music. Tourists. Traditional food. Long tables crammed inside huge tents. And beer — lots and lots of beer.

中国青岛——音乐、游客、传统食物、大帐篷里满满的长桌。还有啤酒——很多很多啤酒。

It’s not Oktoberfest. It’s the Qingdao International Beer Festival, China’s largest celebration of lager.

这不是慕尼黑啤酒节，这里是青岛国际啤酒节——中国最大的啤酒节。

If the festival looks like a certain German tradition, there’s a good reason. The city of Qingdao is home to the similarly pronounced Tsingtao Brewery, which was founded by German settlers in this corner of Shandong Province more than a century ago.

如果说这个节日很像德国传统，也是有道理的。位于山东一隅的青岛市是青岛啤酒的产地，一个世纪之前，德国移民在这里创建了这个品牌。

Since the festival started in 1991, the crowds have steadily increased. This summer’s celebration, which ran for much of August, drew nearly 40,000 people on its busiest weekends.

青岛国际啤酒节始于1991年，此后参与者群体一直稳步增长。今年夏天的庆典几乎持续了整个八月，最繁忙的几个周末吸引了将近4万人。

A small army of bartenders and servers kept steins full and glasses clean and at the ready.

一小群调酒师和侍者随时斟满啤酒杯，并把玻璃杯擦拭干净，方便人们取用。

In addition to Tsingtao, foreign producers like Budweiser and Carlsberg set up their own tents.

除了青岛啤酒之外，外国生产商百威啤酒和嘉士伯啤酒也各自搭起了帐篷。

Locals come to enjoy the “re nao” atmosphere, a Mandarin term for “hustle and bustle” or “loud and chaotic.”

本地人都来享受这“热闹”的气氛。热闹这个中文词，指的是“拥挤繁忙”或“喧闹嘈杂”。

Qingdao’s festival may be of fairly recent vintage, but its beer-making tradition goes back more than 100 years.

青岛啤酒节或许算是近期出品，但它的啤酒酿造传统可以追溯到100年前。

At the turn of the last century, the city was a German naval outpost. The Germans brought beer and an architectural style that can still be seen in the buildings of the city’s Old Town.

在上世纪之交，青岛还是德国海军基地。德国人带来了啤酒，以及如今在青岛老城区内依旧可见的建筑风格。

The British who arrived later were suspicious of the local water and turned to drinking beer instead. In 1903, British and German settlers created the Anglo-German Brewing Company and began producing Tsingtao.

随后到来的英国人对当地水质不放心，用喝啤酒代替喝水。1903年，英国和德国的移民建造了英德啤酒厂，开始生产青岛啤酒。

Through two world wars, foreign occupations, the brewery changed hands several times.

历经了两次世界大战、外国占领，啤酒厂几经转手。

“Without beer, we don’t have life in Qingdao,” said Zhao Chen, a local who brought his extended family to the festival. For an audience of young and old, electric floats circled the grounds at sunset.

“在青岛，没有啤酒就过不下去，”举家参加啤酒节的当地人赵晨(音)说。为了方便年幼观众和老年观众，日落后会有电瓶车在场地里环绕。

In addition to all that beer, there was plenty of food at the festival.

除了大量啤酒，啤酒节上还有很多美食。

Attendees had their fill of chicken’s feet, sausage, dumplings and grilled skewers of spiced meat and squid.

到场者可以饱餐鸡爪、香肠、饺子，以及加了香料的烤肉串或者鱿鱼烤串。

At night, the scene became even louder and livelier, as patriotic anthems turned to techno and rock.

到了晚上，爱国歌曲又换成了电音和摇滚，场面更加热闹活跃。

Deafening music and the smell of stale beer and cigarette smoke did little to dampen spirits as festivalgoers toasted one another from giant glasses.

音乐震耳欲聋，空气里弥漫着不新鲜的啤酒和香烟混杂的味道，然而这些并没有败坏人们的兴致，他们举着大大的玻璃杯彼此干杯。

Amid the never-ending toasts, I asked Mr. Chen whether he came to the festival every year.

在没完没了的干杯间隙，我问赵晨是不是每年都来。

“Are you kidding? This is more important than Chinese New Year,” he said, before sending his brother off to order us all another round.

“你开玩笑?这比春节还重要呢。”他说，接着又让他的兄弟去给我们再买一轮啤酒。

来源:纽约时报中文网