People ride by the Qingdao beer festival. Photo: IC

Thousands of Chinese beer lovers left their facemasks and virus worries behind to gather in large crowds and raise a much-needed glass as the annual Qingdao beer festival opened on July 31.

China has largely brought the coronavirus outbreak under control through a series of lockdowns and restrictions, and the small number of cases reassured beer-lovers to turn out despite the global pandemic.

At the festival, which runs until late August, drinkers were eating and drinking together, watching shows and fireworks and sampling the more than 1,500 types of beer available on site.

Many revelers were walking around the enormous venue in Shandong Province mask-free, with long tables packed with merry drinkers in scenes reminiscent of pre-COVID-19 days.

State broadcaster CCTV said the festival was a chance for people to go back to "normal life and clink glasses."

"It's been half a year since I last traveled around... I feel so happy and relaxed right now," Wang Hua, a tourist from North China's Shanxi Province, told CCTV.

But all was not entirely as normal.

The central "Beer City" is limited to 30 percent visitor capacity, while staff must wear masks and visitor temperatures and health codes are checked.

Imported beer containers are also being tested for the virus and disinfected before entering the venue, officials said, after several local clusters in China were linked to imported food.

The seaside resort is the home of Tsingtao, one of the most popular beers in China and the most exported around the world.

The brewery was set up while Qingdao was under German colonial rule between 1898 and 1914.

China reported 43 new novel coronavirus infections on Monday.