The extent of the China consumer market is being reinforced by corporate power plays and brewers rushing in to get their share.

Just recently news hit that Interbrew, the Dutch brewer famous for such global brands as Becks and one of the finest brews world-wide - Stella Artois - were about to acquire a 25% stake in Chinese brewer Zhu Jiang, according to the Times UK...

"...Hugo Powell, Interbrew's chief executive, has overseen a massive expansion of the company in recent years through acquisitions including the Whitbread Beer Company and Bass Brewers in the UK, but until recently had been cautious over the ability to make sufficient returns in China.

But on a visit to London last week, Mr Powell said that China could effectively become the world's biggest beer market soon..."

The traditional "working man's drink" has a strong hold over the alcoholic drink sector in China, similarly to Thailand, where prohibitive import duties make wine and imported spirits priced for the well-heeled only.

In Australia, where wine has traditionally sports a negative image as the drink of snobs, even the famous Fosters brand has diversified into wine in the past decade. Yet in many places in Asia beer remains the dominant and mass market tipple, with perhaps local rice or cereal whisky still with a strong hold over agrocultural based provinces and the working classes.

There is a wine market in China of course, but the beer market is the mass consumer consumable that will make millionaires well before wine catches on with the mass market.