Anchor: Beer may have originated from Western countries, but it is now very much at the forefront of modern Chinese drinking culture. Some Chinese brands have even made a name for themselves globally. But at the same time, Chinese beer brands are also facing questions such as whether they've been overly controlled by overseas stock holders.

Let's take a closer look with reporter Liu Min.

China boasts the largest beer market in the world - consumption last year peaked at some 42 billion liters, a rise of 3.3 percent from 2008 - and the nation's major breweries this summer have been working overtime to ensure that football fans during the World Cup had a cold glass nearby.

The ongoing Tsingdao International Beer Festival this week has also attracted thousands of visitors from both home and abroad. Vice President Wang Fan from Tsing Tao Beer Group says Tsingdao Beer has now developed into a widely-known Chinese brand.

"Tsingdao Beer is a brand highly recognized by domestic consumers as well as an international brand. The brand's value this year has climbed up to 42.6 billion yuan, and has been exported to more than 70 countries in the world."

Recent research found that the biggest-selling beer in the world is another Chinese brand, Snow Beer, with a 20-percent share in the domestic market.Chinese brands like Yanjing and Tsingtao, together with Snow, take up nearly 50 percent of the domestic beer market. At the same time, 50 percent of the domestic breweries are joint venture companies with foreign shares or are totally foreign-owned. For example, Harbin Beer is the oldest Chinese beer brand, but 100 percent of its shares are owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, one of the largest brewery groups in the world. Denmark's Calsburg accounts for half of the market in China's southwestern regions, including its Chongqing Beer and Lanzhou Yellow River.

Currently, 61 percent of Calsburg's production and 46 percent of profit are from the Chinese market. Forty-eight percent of Tsingdao Beer is owned by foreign investors. Now, voices in the market are questioning whether domestic beer brands face a threat from foreign stockholders.

He Yong, secretary-In-Chief of China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association disagrees.

"I think the beer industry in China is developing in multiple models, and also in healthy ways. We can't say we don't need to worry about any threats from foreign capital controlling our beer industry, but at least the trend of developing is good. The infusion of foreign capital has enhanced our management ability and production efficiency. Without the international cooperation, the Chinese brewery industry could not have reached today's level."

Industry insiders say the Chinese beer industry is highly market-oriented and also internationalized, like few other industries in China. As early as 2003, the Chinese government solicited suggestions from the domestic breweries about the industry's development plan, and later set both the export and import custom tax to zero. Thus, all Chinese domestic brands started to face equal competitions with international brands on both domestic and overseas markets.

But the open market also provoked controversy among the Chinese public, and even some representatives of people's congress questioned whether such cooperation will lose state-owned assets. Yanjing Beer is the only state-owned brewery in China without foreign investment. President Li Fucheng says foreign investment is only a development tactic, but not a model suitable for all breweries in China.

"I think capital is very important for a company to develop, but we need to have more than one alternative when choosing from capital resources. Getting foreign investment can also give us their technology and management skills, but the management level also needs to rethink their own development characteristics instead of just borrowing from others. For example, there were nine breweries in Beijing, and eight of them cooperated with foreign companies, but all of them went bankrupted. However, our sales volume - even during the financial crisis - increased by 13 percent, and tax payments to the country increased 30 percent."

Experts say the development of China's beer industry exactly follows the story of the country's economic transformation. Chinese beer brands are still feeling their way forward. One is trying to take advantage of overseas experience and technology, while another is developing its market without any foreign investment.
No matter the development model, the open market, international competition, and an interesting beer industry with Chinese characteristics always provoke hot debate in China.

For CRI, I'm Liu Min.