Region & History

Where is China's oldest brewery? By its own account, in Harbin, in the northeast of the country, in the year 1900. It is said to have been founded by a Polish merchant from the Russian-partitioned territories, and the date predates Tsingtao's founding by three years. The year 1900 is the brewery's own claim; the ranking of Chinese breweries is considered a self-description rather than an officially established fact.

The fact that brewing happened here at all is thanks to the railway. Harbin grew in the course of building the Chinese Eastern Railway, and with the Russian and European settlers came thirst and craft. Anyone wanting to supply workers, traders and soldiers through winters of double-digit sub-zero temperatures needed a drink that could be produced locally.

The brewery didn't stay in one pair of hands. In 2004 Anheuser-Busch took it over after a bidding battle with SABMiller; today Harbin Beer belongs to AB InBev, the world's largest brewing group. For readers who know the beer from the shelf: the name stands for a brand based in Harbin that belongs to an international corporation.

The second major player in the region is Snow. The brand belongs to CR Snow, a joint venture of China Resources in which Heineken has held a 40 percent stake since 2018. Measured by volume, Snow is considered the world's best-selling beer, according to Wikipedia citing 2010 figures, and is drunk almost exclusively in China. It is brewed in many plants across the country, by no means only in the northeast.

There is no EU-style protected designation of origin for these beers. "Harbin" and "Snow" are brands and city names, not protected designations. The style behind them, a pale, mildly hopped lager, has long been an everyday staple in China.