In fact, Snow is such a domestic Chinese product that it is not even available in Hong Kong, just across the border. The beer that most foreigners see, both inside and outside China, is Tsingtao, first brewed by Germans in the north-east of the country, and now owned partly by Asahi, the Japanese conglomerate, a Chinese entrepreneur and the Chinese government. More than 11bn pints of Tsingtao were sold last year. And Tsingtao is said to be up against SABMiller in the race to take over Foster's, after the South African brewers put up a £6bn hostile offer last week.