Oktoberfest customs

Munich’s Oktoberfest is famous not only because it is a world-famous folk carnival, but also because it completely retains Bavaria’s folk style and customs. People use gorgeous carriages to transport beer, drink in the huge beer tent, and enjoy the folk songs and intoxicating love songs played by the Bavarian brass band. While people enjoy delicious food at the Oktoberfest, a series of colorful entertainment activities are also held, such as horse racing, shooting, juggling, various entertainment activities, drama performances, ethnic concerts, etc. While people add a festive and joyful atmosphere to the festival, they also fully demonstrate the enthusiasm, boldness and vitality of their nation.

On the morning of the first day of the festival, parades from Bavaria, other German states, Austria, Switzerland, and France gathered together. People dressed in bright and colorful national costumes and traditional costumes greeted the mayor of Munich and the wine company. Led by the magnificent carriage decorated with flowers and ridden by the factory owner, the majestic and majestic crowds of people flocked to Delis's meadow. At 12 noon, with the 12-gun salute, drums were playing, colorful flags were flying, and people were excited. After the mayor made a brief speech, he opened the first keg of beer, and the Oktoberfest began with roaring cheers. At this time, beer girls in traditional costumes use single-eared wine glasses to continuously deliver fresh beer to eager drinkers. Many Bavarians wearing deerskin shorts, vests and other national costumes walked through the streets holding beer glasses in their hands. They shouted "Cheers" to everyone they met. The atmosphere was very lively and fully reflected the local national spirit.

Only beer produced locally in Munich can be sold at the Oktoberfest, so the protagonists of the Oktoberfest have always been several large local beer houses, such as Paulaner, Royal, Ophelia and Lion. A famous wine house. One of the most legendary beers is the OKtoberfest beer named after the Oktoberfest (Chinese transliteration: Oufei Beer). Since this beer is brewed in March every year, it is also called Marzen locally (German: March meaning). After six months of low-temperature cellaring, the mayor of Munich personally knocks the first barrel of Ofil beer at the Oktoberfest at the end of September, announcing the opening of the Oktoberfest. At this time, the hops are splashing everywhere, the aroma is rich and delicious, and the aroma is very fragrant. Therefore, Oktoberfest has become the most representative and best-selling beer at the Munich Oktoberfest.

At the beginning of October, Munich already had a slight autumn coolness, and the entire street was colorfully decorated with colorful lights. In the festival square, hundreds of tents of various sizes are lined up. There is a dazzling array of goods for sale here, and the sounds of hawking come and go. People sat back to back, drank happily, sang and danced impromptu to the accompaniment of music, and even jumped on the table to congratulate each other.

During the festival, it is stipulated that beer will be served until 10:30 every night, and the band will play popular music at 10:45 to urge people to leave. At this time, thousands of drunken tourists would protest in unison, and the cleaning lady had to put the chairs upside down on the table. For those tourists who refused to leave for a long time, the security guards had to push them to the exit and force them to let them go. leave.

On weekdays, the outstanding impression given by Germans is that they have a serious and rigorous work attitude, obey orders, observe discipline and have strong principles, but they seem to lack humor and enthusiasm. However, at Oktoberfest, one can discover another side of Germans that is lively and enthusiastic. In particular, the persistence and pride shown by the Bavarians for their own culture and traditions have left a deep impression on people from all over the world.

This is known as one of the largest festivals in the world, attracting more than 7 million tourists every year, drinking more than 6 million liters of beer! The Germans, who everyone thinks of as serious and strict, actually have such a warm and hospitable side. During the 16-day Oktoberfest, a large tent with a capacity of tens of thousands of seats is erected in Theresa Square every year to provide tourists with beer and German food. Amusement facilities such as a Ferris wheel are erected outside the tent, and from time to time in the venue Interspersed with parades and folklore activities in medieval costumes.

There is no nation in the world that loves beer more than the Germans. The extent of their "binge drinking" is astonishing just from the data. The world's largest festival, according to Munich According to statistics from the tourism authority, an average of 200,000 sausages, 600,000 roast chickens and a full 6 million liters of beer are eaten. During the two-week Oktoberfest, Germans drank and ate a total of 13,528 kilograms of food, which is enough to last one person for 10 years. In 2003, about six million people crowded into 14 tents on about 31 hectares of grassland and drank about 5.7 million liters (1.5 million gallons) of German beer. All the beer greenhouses in Teresa Square are temporarily built. Each greenhouse is about 2,000 square meters and has an independent stage and beer sales counter. People sit on traditional long benches and long wooden tables, enjoying world-famous German beer and roasted pig legs with local characteristics. In addition to drinking, the streets are decorated with lights and a parade of seven major wineries in the city. The teams also took to the streets singing and dancing. There are also many folk activities, such as concerts and circus performances, as well as many vending stations and amusement facilities, such as carousels and Ferris wheels. Beer was served until 10:30 p.m., when the band played music urging people to go home. The activities in Teresa Square ended at 11 p.m., but many tourists were still unsatisfied and lingered, and many people still moved on to other places. Continue to the pub that is open all night. When approaching the Munich Beer Tent venue, you will see more than ten large beer tents (Beer tents) opened by various well-known beer companies and restaurants. Although they are called tents, each tent is like a small dome. Because the project is as huge as building a house, in order to accommodate thousands to tens of thousands of people every night, each beer house has gone to great lengths to meet the needs of different tourists. Since mid-July, they have started to build giant sheds. , all decorated with their own characteristics. More than a dozen beer tents can accommodate more than 90,000 seats. Each beer manufacturer will display their beer in the tent. Everyone sings, dances, and eats grilled chicken, grilled fish and Big Mac in the beer tent. Bread Pret-zel, and many beer tents also have stages for band performances. Every night there will be bands performing some familiar German songs, as well as parades in medieval costumes and traditional songs and dances. But the most attractive thing is the many kinds of amusement facilities outside the beer shed that are suitable for the whole family, such as carousels, pirate ships, rotating beer cylinders, rotating swings, roller coasters, haunted houses and other amusement facilities, as well as restaurants that provide tourists with German imperial cuisine. Small stalls so people of all ages can have fun at Oktoberfest! In addition, at night, colorful lights illuminate the entire venue, making Munich more beautiful as the night goes on. The giant Ferris wheel is the best place to overlook the Oktoberfest venue. Qingdao International Beer Festival is twenty years old this year, and the baby that was born has grown into a young man in his prime.

From a small local festival to the largest beer event in Asia, the development and growth of Qingdao Beer Festival is in line with the pace of Qingdao’s economic and social development.

“You couldn’t drink foreign beer in the first few sessions.” Gao Zhong, a Qingdao citizen who has participated in drinking competitions since the first Oktoberfest and won eight championships and is known as the “Beer King,” told reporters bluntly , as the internationalization of Oktoberfest increases, more and more international brand beers can be drunk.

It is reported that the first Oktoberfest was held in the southwest corner of Zhongshan Park in 1991 and was hosted by Tsingtao Beer Group. Most of the visitors were breweries from Laizhou, Weihai and other provinces.

Zibo native Zhu Quansheng, who comes to the Oktoberfest every year, has no deep impression of the first three Oktoberfests. He accurately remembers the first time he drank imported foreign beer at the Oktoberfest, which was at the 4th Oktoberfest in 1994.

Since then, more and more foreign beers have appeared at the Oktoberfest. In 2006, the 16th Beer Festival introduced 45 beer brands, including 41 foreign brands.

“The Qingdao Beer Festival is becoming more and more international.” Ma Gengcun, a researcher at the Qingdao Academy of Social Sciences, thinks so after comparing the beer brands that have participated in the festival for 17 years.

There were also more international faces attending the Oktoberfest. Former Australian Prime Minister Hawke set a record of drinking 1,420ml of beer in 11 seconds when he was young. At the 2001 Oktoberfest, Gao Zhong told him face to face that he could drink 1,500 ml of beer in just over 8 seconds. Hawke smiled: "I'm already old. I'm no longer as young as I was when I was young."

The reporter found that from which time, photos of foreign girls or boys holding up large glasses of beer began to dominate the scene. The core position of the opening ceremony publicity report.

Looking at the changes at the Oktoberfest, civilization and rationality are obvious.

“Back then, bicycles were parked in a large area, and many motorcycle owners took the opportunity to solicit customers to make money. The chaos was like going to a market.” Ma Gengcun, who had not been to a beer festival, told reporters that when he went to the beer city, most of them opened private shops. car, take a taxi or take the bus.

With the "replacement of shotguns with cannons" in transportation, traffic order has also made a qualitative leap. In the past, cars were crowded with people, causing collisions and scratches from time to time. Nowadays, the traffic flow in Beer City is in order, and the civilized travel quality of citizens and tourists has been significantly improved.

Social progress can be seen in bits and pieces. Wang Desheng, who has been responsible for the sanitation and cleaning work in the beer city for ten consecutive years, said that tourists have become more and more respectful of them, and people have begun to take the initiative to throw garbage into the trash cans.

“To say that the thing that cannot fully play its role in the beer city is the sobering room.” Lin Xingyu, chief consultant of the Oktoberfest, told reporters that the Oktoberfest organizing committee set up the sobering room out of humane considerations. . As people drink more and more civilized and rationally, Beer City decided to cancel the sobering room.

The reporter also learned that the Beer City will set up a charity sale in the city for the first time, and all proceeds from the charity sale such as celebrity calligraphy and painting, craft gifts and other donations from all walks of life will be used for public welfare undertakings.

In addition, the entertainment projects in Beer City have also increased a lot. In addition to the original 16 amusement facilities, the "2007 Beer Carnival" also added 17 new amusement equipment and 17 game booths worth nearly 300 million yuan. Compared with the earliest street stall game of "taking a bamboo trap to make a gadget", the "play" here has reached the international first-class level.

There is an Oktoberfest souvenir sales booth at the east gate of the Beer City. The store manager, Ms. Li, introduced a small mahogany beer barrel to customers in detail. During this period, several citizens bought several sets of unique wine bottle openers.

“Oktoberfest souvenirs only emerged later.” Lin Xingyu said that except for the first Oktoberfest, which was sponsored by a company, subsequent Oktoberfests have been transferred to the name of the government and are managed by the government. With the deepening of the reform concept, the Oktoberfest has begun to gradually introduce partners, adopting a government-led, market-oriented operation mechanism: ticket sales are contracted by specialized companies; party performances are organized by professional companies; there are also some recreational facilities in the beer city. The company invests in the introduction and operation.

After 17 years, from the early 1990s when the reform trend was raging to today, market-oriented thinking has deeply penetrated into the business philosophy of the Oktoberfest. More than 10 years ago, who would have dared to implement a differentiated pricing strategy of 10 yuan for tickets during the day and 20 yuan at night?

The international Oktoberfest is also an international business opportunity. Peng Bin, general manager of Qingdao Zhihe Business Company, met several current regular customers at the Oktoberfest. Mr. Jin of Korea Mirin Co., Ltd. mainly deals in agricultural and sideline products. He met Peng Bin at the 2004 Oktoberfest. Since then, the garlic sprouts and carrots distributed by Peng Bin have switched from domestic trade to foreign trade, and are exported to South Korea through Milin, with a trade volume of tens of millions of yuan every year.

In 2009, the 19th Qingdao International Beer Festival lasted for 16 days and featured 102 varieties of beer. ——Beijing Crab Island Group

Project Background

Beijing International Beer Culture Festival is the oldest joint venture between Beijing Crab Island Group and German Schottenhamel Ltd. Co KG (operating the Munich Oktoberfest) Canton) cooperated with the company to bring the original German Oktoberfest to Beijing, settling down on Crab Island, making beer, carnival and carnival the protagonists of the festival, allowing people to feel the warm atmosphere of the festival and the enjoyment of beer and food . The scale and format of the Beijing International Beer Culture Festival are equivalent to those of the Munich Oktoberfest in Germany.

The Oktoberfest has a history of nearly 200 years in Germany, and has been held for 176 times so far. The Oktoberfest brings nearly 955 million euros in revenue to the city of Munich every year. It not only brings a lot of money to breweries, but also greatly promotes local development. Tourism and economic development.

In the context of the current financial crisis sweeping the world, Beijing Xidao Group’s hosting of large-scale international events such as the Beijing International Beer Culture Festival can effectively boost domestic demand, stimulate consumption, and solve the employment problem of tens of thousands of migrant workers. The Oktoberfest event not only has huge social and economic benefits, but will also bring great business opportunities to many industries such as tourism, hotels, catering, transportation, entertainment, and shopping in Beijing. It has very positive significance in promoting cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, attracting foreign investment, introducing advanced foreign technologies and management models, and further increasing the influence of Beijing as an international metropolis in the world.

Project Overview

The Oktoberfest project covers a total area of ??625 acres, including 210 acres of forest parking lot (can park 10,000 vehicles); the main site area is 415 acres, with 11 main buildings A light steel vacuum glass greenhouse that can accommodate 10,000 people for dining and celebration. In addition, supporting service building facilities such as a control center, medical center, security command center, and operations command center have been built. The project construction period is expected to be 210 days, with a total investment of 1.5 billion yuan. The Oktoberfest event is planned to be held between July 17th and August 16th every year for 30 days. The event period spans the students' summer vacation and the traditional Chinese Valentine's Day, which is also the peak tourist season in Beijing.

Social Economic Benefits

Holding the Oktoberfest can absorb nearly 10,000 people from society’s idle labor force, especially employment of migrant workers. Except for senior executives related to the project, all other positions will be used. surrounding rural labor force. Although it is temporary employment, the income is very attractive. It is expected that each migrant worker employed for one month during the Oktoberfest will receive direct economic benefits of about 5,000-10,000 yuan per person.

Holding an Oktoberfest event in Beijing with the same scale and format as the Munich Oktoberfest in Germany will have social and economic benefits at least equivalent to those of the Qingdao Oktoberfest (Beijing’s tourist source market advantage of more than 18 million permanent residents is Qingdao’s advantage) incomparable). According to a conservative budget, the first Oktoberfest will attract more than 3.5 million tourists, generate operating income of 1 billion yuan, and pay taxes of 150 million yuan. At the same time, calculated according to the economic coefficient of 1:4.5, the Oktoberfest will bring more than 4.5 billion yuan in economic benefits to related industries. After the operation of the Oktoberfest is formalized, the visibility of the event increases and the brand effect is formed (about the third session), the number of tourists is expected to reach 4 million per session, the output value can reach more than 2 billion yuan, and the tax paid will be 300 million yuan. above.

In addition to direct economic benefits, holding such a large-scale beer festival in Beijing will also stimulate the economic development of the entire society. The economic benefits of related industries driven by the Oktoberfest are extensive. With a history of more than 200 years, the Munich Oktoberfest has 6.8 million visitors and a total revenue of 955 million euros, including 449 million euros in direct revenue from the Oktoberfest, 301 million euros in hotel accommodation revenue, catering, shopping, and transportation. Revenue was 205 million euros, and other consumer income was 449 million euros (data derived from official statistics of the 2003 Oktoberfest). In the 2006 Tsingtao Beer Festival, the average occupancy rate of major star-rated hotels in Qingdao reached over 95. The Oktoberfest received 3.4 million tourists, and at the same time produced huge chain economic benefits for department stores, restaurants, transportation, logistics, etc. It has even greatly promoted the substantial growth of home appliances, real estate, automobiles, telecommunications, banking and finance and other industries. The direct income of related industries from the consumption of Oktoberfest tourists has reached a huge amount of 600 million yuan.

Obviously, the Oktoberfest project has considerable social and economic benefits. At the same time, the project construction unit will also go all out to achieve the set goals in an orderly manner with the strong support and help of governments at all levels. Promote the project process and strive to build the project into China's leading large-scale international brand festival as soon as possible, and make positive contributions to accelerating the construction of the capital city and society and promoting the prosperity of the capital.