The city of Qingdao is home to the only Chinese beer to achieve any popularity in the United States – Tsingtao. The beer is named for the city. In the U.S., even Chinese people often call the beer Sing Tao. But in its hometown, both are pronounced Ching Dao. The difference is a result of the system used to convert Chinese words into Roman letters.
Wade-Giles vs. Pinyin
When the German-occupied city of Qingdao began to export its lager brewed from mountain spring water, the system in use was Wade-Giles. It was invented by a couple of Englishmen – scholars of Chinese, but not native speakers. So the beer was first romanized as Tsingtao and built up a respectable brand under that spelling. Then, in 1955, a former banker named Zhou Yougang was assigned to a Chinese government committee to improve the romanization of the Mandarin language. He developed the modern system of Hanyu pinyin that is still used today. Under that system, the city is spelled Qingdao.
Branding vs. Linguistics
Most people agree that the new system is a better and more uniform way to represent the pronunciation of Chinese language. But as with all change, it has created some confusion. The brewers decided that it was better for consumers to be confused about the origin of their beer than its quality. So they spared beer drinkers the stress of wondering whatever happened to Tsingtao and whether that new Qingdao beer is any good. It was probably the right choice.
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