Workers at the China Taiyuan Coal Transaction Center, in Shanxi province, have everything in place for the Taiyuan International Beer Festival, whose opening ceremony will be held Friday night, Aug 16.

This first beer festival of its kind, taking place Aug 16 to 25, will open from 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm every day, with six big tents with different themes, on a 30,000-square–meter site that can hold 2,000 people. There will also be shows put on every night.

The largest of the big tents is for A6 German beer, with a 2,000-sq-m space. There will be hundreds of beers from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and elsewhere out on shelves. Guests can also get a taste of famous German dishes prepared by German chefs. And, alongside the tent, there is an entertainment area with large recreation facilities.

According to the organizing committee, the backer of the event is from Shanxi and hopes the beer festival can attract more people to Taiyuan, the provincial capital. Meanwhile, Taiyuan is working on its "Cool Taiyuan" tourism brand, so the beer festival could end up as a summer carnival.

Edited by Zhou Yuanyuan and Roger Bradshaw