The 34th edition of the Qingdao International Beer Festival opened on Friday in the coastal city of Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, ushering in a 24-day extravaganza that will run until August 11.
The festival, themed "Qingdao Cheers with the World," has two venues in Qingdao West Coast New Area and Laoshan District. This year's event features over 2,200 varieties of beers from across the globe, offering a rich tapestry of flavors and brews for attendees to explore while promising a unique experience for both local and global guests.
Throughout its duration, the festival will hold seven major activity sectors, such as cultural and sports and collaborative exchanges in the area. Over 2,000 scheduled events, ranging from musical performances and artistic parades to sports competitions designed to entertain visitors, will be held.
To enhance the visitor experience, the festival also introduces new consumer scenarios and an array of tourism routes, ensuring that the joy of the festival extends beyond the beer itself and into the rich cultural and scenic offerings of Qingdao.
"The Qingdao Beer Festival is very good. I like it the most here. I love Qingdao, and I love Qingdao beer. Cheers!" said a tourist from Russia.
"The festival spans a vast area where we can sample a wide variety of beers from different countries, each with its unique flavor. I think this is fabulous. And having fun with friends. I think this is so great," said another tourist who came from the Netherlands.
Qingdao City also launched an innovative combination of the festival and beach camping, which has become a hit among visitors and is emerging as a new hot spot for consumption.
As one of the world's four major beer festivals, the Qingdao International Beer Festival has established itself as a magnet for beer enthusiasts and a catalyst for the local economy. The other three famous beer festivals are Germany's Oktoberfest, the Great American Beer Festival in the U.S., and the Toronto Beer Festival in Canada.
Qingdao Int'l Beer Festival opens with global cheers, festive celebrations
A high-level mediation team from the African Union (AU) Commission has been dispatched to Juba, capital of South Sudan, to try to ease the rising tensions between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, and help resolve the current political crisis in the country.
Riek Machar and several senior officials have been detained since clashes erupted in January between the South Sudan People's Defense Forces and the opposition fighters.
Machar was accused of instigating violence in Nasir in the northern part of the country.
The mediation team says it plans to engage Machar, but that meeting is yet to take place.
The AU is urging South Sudanese political leaders to resolve the current disagreement through dialogue.
Machar heads the largest opposition group that has an armed wing in the country, known as SPLM/A-IO.
South Sudan's government says it's still investigating Machar for being allegedly involved in clashes between government troops and armed civilians affiliated to SPLM/A-IO in Nasir.
"The mandate of the RTGoNU (the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity) is simple; that we stop war, we form a revitalized government of national unity so that we return security, sustainable peace in the country," said Martin Elia Lomuro, South Sudan's Minister of Cabinet Affairs.
Meanwhile, Machar's party members are calling on president Kiir to order the release of their leader.
The group argues that the arrest of Machar means the 2018 peace deal which ended five years of violence in the country has partially collapsed.
The government reaffirms its commitment to the implementation of the 2018 peace deal.
It says Mr. Machar is in conflict with the law and that the implementation of the peace deal should not be used as cover to commit crime. However, until now, South Sudanese law enforcement agencies have not charged Machar with any offense in a court of law.
South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, signed a peace deal in 2018 that ended a civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar. Nearly 400,000 people died in the civil war.
Relations between Kiir and Machar, who have dominated South Sudan's politics for decades, remain strained. The clashes and latest political tensions between the two leaders have unsettled many citizens and the international community.
AU dispatches Panel of Wise to address ongoing instability in South Sudan
