Oktoberfest-Lets Party got underway at LETS Cultural District Livehouse in Qianshan on Sept 24 and will run through Oct 7. There's live Bavarian music, audience participation, and beer-drinking bouts. Entry to the beer festival is free.

Oktoberfest band Alpenrocker has flown in from Europe to play nightly and entertain with traditional Bavarian games, 200-year-old songs, Volksmusik (folk music), oldies, and German waltzes and polkas. Tables and benches are also imported from Munich.

Daily drinking competitions are being judged by the number of cups players down within a time limit. Challengers who rank in the top 10 are awarded prizes.

Beer drinking bout

Each day has a theme: Beer Olympics, All You Can Drink, Student Night, Ladies Night, and more.

The festival is open from 6 to 10 pm this week, and 3 to 10 pm next week.

Sept 24 to Oct 7: Daily Drinking Contest (random times)

Sept 25: Glow in the Dark & Full Moon Party (free neon paint for everyone)

Sept 26-29: Team-Building Night

Sept 30: Student Fun Night

Sept 27 & Oct 4: Ladies Night

Sept 24, 28 & Oct 1, 2 & 3: Beer Olympics

Oct 5, 6: All You Can Drink 200 RMB

Oct 7: Closing Ceremony & Beer Olympics

Promotion at Lets Cultural District [Photos courtesy WeChat ID: louder166]

Munich's Oktoberfest, Great American Beer Festival, and Great British Beer Festival are considered among the best beer festivals in the world, attracting 6 million visitors each time.

Oktoberfest began on Oct 12, 1810 with the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. On Oct 17, a large celebration was held in front of the Sendlinger Tor Gate leading to Munich. Included in the festivities were horse races that became an Oktoberfest custom until 1938. In Munich, the fest lasts 16 days, beginning on a Saturday in September and always ending on the first Sunday in October.

Oktoberfest attracts a large number of tourists from all over the world. About 6 million liters of beer, 500,000 chickens and over 100 pork sausages are consumed in the biggest annual folk festival, and bring in 830 million euros to Munich.

Directions to Lets Cultural District