 Qingdao, Shandong: a community beautifying its home |
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Many know Tsingtao beer, but not as many know Qingdao the city. We met a man who worked in the Qingdao Beer Factory and lived really close to Beach No.6. He and his son were looking at a tiny minnow his son had just caught and put in a water bottle. The man immediately broke out into an introduction of Qingdao (Tsingtao) beer and how the beer's name seemed to outrank its home in importance.
The city of Qingdao is home to 4 famous breweries of this brand of beer. What I didn't know before going there the first time was that there were different brews- some darker, some lighter, some bitter and some more sweet. We learned the history of Qingdao beer at the Beer Museum- everything from its very beginning in 1902, from changes in ownership to the evolution of the beer-making process and the various marketing techniques and bottles used throughout the years. The German influence on the city did not go unnoticed either, as experienced in the city's architecture and of course in the beer recipe!
We came to Qingdao with a purpose: to drink Qingdao beer and drink it on a Qingdao beach. We came, we saw, and we conquered. It was July, and America had just celebrated another birthday. It was a time for a beer or two and lay on the beach. Just an American past-time? I wouldn't make that assumption, considering that 98% of the people on the beach that day were local or visiting Chinese. Not having an opened bottle beer by your sun umbrella and towel would have been a serious faux pas – against our own cultural traditions and those of the majority.
Troops carrying bags of algae up to the beach.(Photo by S. Rockett)
What we saw on the beaches, standing there armed with bottles of beer and towels, was what the news said we would see- water covered in algae. We actually saw people knee-deep in algae that covered the water like a hairy, green sweater at Beaches No.1 and No.6 on the "Green Island." Beach No.6 had a rockier shoreline on which kids were scrambling and slipping to find little tiny minnows, grayfish and hermit crabs. That was on one side of the pier. On the other side, there was a mixed crowd of military and residential manpower bent over picking out and bagging algae in white bags, carrying the bags on their backs up to the shore, climbing up the stairs and emptying the bag out onto the emerging pile beside a bulldozer. What struck us most was the army of people that came out to help- local residents and visitors to Qingdao- in addition to the troops deployed.
Pile of algae brought ashore by troops and will be shipped out by bulldozer.(Photo by J. Orlic)
We were in a taxi riding up to the shoreline of Beach No.1 and saw what seemed like a never ending stream of troops marching up to the beach. Once on the beach front, we could see them racing down the beach and blitzing into the water, racing against time and against each other. On the way back, the troops heaved the soaking bags full of green algae onto their backs, raced back to the shoreline and up the beach, losing their straw hats on the way. In the meantime, college students, parents, and children waded through the thick, green algae and bagged it for the troops who would deliver it ashore.
Every little bit helps. (Photo by S. Rockett)
This young volunteer skips the bag and carries two armfuls up to the beach. (Photo S. Rockett)
We have seen photos of the Wenchuan earthquake relief and read accounts of what happened and who helped. But none of us had a chance to go and see the relief work. This time, we had a look at a different type of relief work: algae relief. According to one guy we met at our hostel, the situation was "hopeless." I could see the reality of his statement and hear the fatalistic tone of a perspective that says "they won't be ready in time." But it was also difficult to ignore all the possibility and potential for success in the people on the beaches doing what they could with their hands, rakes, shovels and plastic bags.
Sarah (UK) and Ellen (US) contribute to the algae relief efforts. (Photo by S. Rockett)
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