All memories of the last year-plus in Shanghai are fond. But I realize that I took too long to bow to the inevitable: months ago I should have called off my quest to find actual good beer in China and instead made my peace with the thin, weak, rainwater-bland local brews. All in all it's a minor cost of the major adventure of being here.
Here is what I finally got hold of in Shanghai:
And here is the representation of my new beer philosophy as I start my new life in Beijing:
That's a little can of Beijing Beer in the foreground, among devotional Mao-era figures. It and (the identical-tasting but oddly more popular) Yanjing Beer are cheap, are available everywhere, and require no thought or effort to locate or wash down.
Going local, step by step
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