A daily treat for Zhao Yunpeng, a 38-year-old resident in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, is to buy two bottles of beer from a grocery near his home after a long day's work in a local bank.

"Food simply doesn't taste good if I do not drink, I guess I'm almost addicted to its flavor," said the bank official.

He feels that he is daydreaming when he sees a fountain that is spurting forth yellow liquid, dappled with ample quantities of foam.

He is not dreaming however, for it is a fountain, but it isn't filled with water, in fact it is full of beer.

As the Fourth Harbin International Beer Festival gets under way this Saturday, its organizing committee, mainly composed of representatives from some local beer companies, is planning to create a unique spectacle to add some fun to the festival a beer fountain.

A beer festival may not be anything out of the ordinary, but a beer fountain most certainly is.

In accordance with the committee's plans, tons of beer will tomorrow be poured into the fountain.

A gentle breeze should be enough to blow a mist of beer all over the Central Square where the opening ceremony will be held.

The whole square will then be shrouded in an alcoholic mist, whilst dances and parades take place, turning the event into something of a Mardi Gras.

Tang Guangzhou, who is in charge of activity organization on the organizing committee, told China Daily he estimated that 150 tons of beer is going to be used in the ceremony with the waste beer being pumped away into the sewers.

"In order to create the right kind of atmosphere and achieve a better effect for the promotion, we think it is worth the money," he said.

Yesterday, in the final preparations, a group of workers came to clean the nozzles and fix the lights under the fountain.

They then poured about 10 tons of beer into the fountain to test its spurting ability. The trial spouting caught the fancy of beer drinker Zhao Yunpeng.

The fragrant flavour could be smelled several blocks away, which drew in the crowds.

Zhao said that after realizing what this was all about, the very first thought that came into his mind was "What an extravagance and waste!"

(China Daily August 5, 2005)