CELEBRATE THE CHINESE NEW YEAR
WITH TSINGTAO BEER

Web Site Offers Chinese New Year Fun Facts and Tips on How to Celebrate

[CHICAGO] – Chinese New Year kicks off on February 7, 2008, marking the most important Chinese holiday and the beginning of a 15-day celebration. Tsingtao, the number one imported Chinese beer in the United States, is celebrating the festive holiday with suggestions on how to celebrate the event online at www.tsingtaobeer.com.

Tsingtao has loaded its web site, www.tsingtaobeer.com, with fun facts on the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Rat. The site includes background on the holiday, Chinese zodiac calendar information and a guide to hosting a Chinese New Year bash, including a downloadable Chinese New Year invitation template and party decorating tips. The site also includes Chinese recipes created to compliment both Tsingtao Lager and Pure Draft.  Web surfers can also learn how to say “Happy New Year” in various Asian languages including Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Thai and more. The upcoming Chinese New Year celebration will last through February 21, 2008.

A few essential tips for planning a Chinese New Year celebration include:

• Decorate in red and gold, the Chinese colors of prosperity that signify good luck and wealth; adorn your home with red balloons and gold streamers from a party store and red lanterns easily found in Asian stores
• Have Tsingtao Lager or Pure Draft on hand so guests can enjoy an authentic Chinese beverage
• Chopsticks and festive tableware are a must for serving Chinese cuisine
• Buy small red envelopes and fill with coins, in even dollar amounts, to give to friends and family as goodwill gestures
• Guarantee your good fortune in the New Year by assembling a centerpiece made from fresh flowers, oranges and tangerines, all symbols of good luck and wealth
• According to ancient tradition, every corner of your home should be swept and cleaned in preparation for your New Year's celebration

Those born in the Year of the Rat, one of 12 Chinese calendar years, are characterized as imaginative, charming, truly generous to those that they love, and are considered most compatible with Dragons, Monkeys and Oxes.

Famous people born in the Year of the Rat include: Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, Marlon Brando, Hugh Grant, Gene Kelly, Sean Penn, Burt Reynolds, Olivia Newton-John, Donna Summer, Wolfgang Mozart, William Shakespeare, George Washington, Plato, Peter Tchaikovsky and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Print-quality downloadable Chinese New Year posters, greeting cards and wallpaper are also available free at www.tsingtaobeer.com, and t-shirts and Chinese lanterns are available for purchase.  A list of cities that host major Chinese New Year celebrations, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago, is also available.

Tsingtao Lager is the number one branded consumer product exported from China and is brewed and bottled by the Tsingtao Brewery in China. Monarch Import Company (Crown Imports) is the exclusive importer of Tsingtao Beer in the United States.