The text on this placard roughly translates as “Only development makes hard sense”, or “Development is the ultimate truth”, written in bold red characters above a Qingdao skyline filled with skyscrapers, an ageing Deng Xiaoping, and an oddly photoshopped border of flowers. Qingdao is sprinkled with streets named after their intended specialization: Beer Street, Wine Street, Wedding Photography Street, Stationary Street, Culture Street. We saw this placard on Hong Kong Road, appropriately dubbed “Finance Street”, as we walked along the six-lane avenue in search of Starbucks. Deng Xiaoping watches over modern-day Qingdao, appropriate for a city that was once a German treaty port, and even in the darkest days of central planning continued to produce beer for the world — according to the Tsingtao beer museum, Qingdao’s beer at one point accounted for 98% of China’s exports.
