Here's cheers to memories of Reeb beer factory
A pen drawing exhibition at Reeb 1987 features its evolution from a beer factory to an industry-city integrated park.
Reeb 1987 industry-city integrated park
A group of some 50 amateur pen drawing artists gathered at Reeb 1987 in Minhang District on a drizzling Saturday morning in December last year.
They were tuning into the vibe of the industry-city integrated park that has been renovated from the decades-old Reeb beer factory.
"Quite a few of the artists were in their 60s or 70s," said Yu Zhijun, curator of the 2023 Reeb 1987 pen drawing work exhibition. It was staged at Reeb 1987 in Meilong Town last month.
"When they were in their prime of their life in their 30s or 40s, Reeb was also in the full vigor as a celebrated local beer brand.
"One artist came all the way by bus for two hours from Hangtou Town of the south Nanhui New City to do some research and preparatory drawing."
The exhibition was inspired by another pen drawing work display about Wuyi Road, in neighboring Changning District, which Yu had attended. The age of the artists ranged from 6 to 89-year-old.
First-prize winner "Old Factory House" by Wu Feng
"Reeb is a noted Shanghai brand with a history of 36 years,"said Yu, who is also the operation manager of Reeb 1987.
"As a beer brand, however, its strength faded. We had hoped the pen drawing exhibition would somehow record its past."
The prototype of Reeb beer is Shanghai Yimin Beer Factory, which was founded in 1982. It was then a joint venture by the Singaporean company Asia Pacific Breweries in 1987. In 2005 it turned into a solely foreign-funded enterprise with Dutch and Singaporean capital. In 2014 Shenzhen Investment Development Group Co acquired the land and started the revamp.
The first bottle of tin-packaged Reeb beer was produced on August 7, 1987, and its most glorious days were in the 1990s.
"Reeb is the memory of my generation,"said Zhang Guoshun, a pen drawing artist in Shanghai in his 70s.
"It was the best-selling beverage in the 1980s in time-honored restaurants in Shanghai like Xinghualou and Xinya.
"My father-in-law used to work on an ocean liner. Every time he returned from a sea voyage, he would ask us to buy some bottles of Reeb for him. Reeb has a unique, stronger wheat aroma."
His work – a young resident of Shanghai holding a bottled Reeb and standing in front of Reeb 1987 under a blue sky – won a runner-up prize in the exhibition.
"When I joined the artists' group tour of Reeb 1987 in December last year, I was impressed by both its industrial heritages like the 60-meter-high chimney and the rusted boilers which were used for beer ferment and distillation, as well as its modern skyscrapers," he said.
"A bridge across the Meilonggang River inside the park links its west and east blocks, representing the past and future of Reeb 1987. Circling the ground under the towering chimney is the lyrics of 'Reasons to Like Shanghai,' a hit advertisement song for Reeb in the early 2000s.
Zhang Guoshun's work
"I portrayed a young man holding a bottled Reeb, a characteristic of my memory of Reeb in the 1980s, on an A3 white cardboard paper. He is wearing a red plaid shirt against a background of blue sky as if to tell us his reasons to like Reeb."
The artist was invited to be an alumni newspaper editor for Shanghai Beijiao High School in Hongkou District in 2017 after his retirement as a teacher there. He did some pen drawings as snapshots for some of the authors and they turned out quite popular. In 2021 he joined the Xinhongqiao Pen Drawing Association and met with a group of pen drawing enthusiasts.
"Pen drawing is like a light calvary among the genres of drawings and paintings for its portable tools," Zhang explained. Artists use pen or dip pens, black ink or colored ink, or occasionally resort to colored pencils or water color as decoration, to create works.
"It suits to both quick sketching and refined portraying on 4K, 2K and full sheet papers and is particularly expressive through its lines," Zhang said."What is more, it is strong in expressing the urban pulse of Shanghai.
"Reeb tells a story of entrepreneurship and innovation. It is the memory of the pioneering spirit of national industry in Shanghai in the 1980s after the policies of reform and opening-up were introduced. Now with Reeb 1987 opened as an industry-city integrated park, Reeb has regained its vigor as a new landmark," Zhang added.
The west block of the industrial park has preserved its historic relics – the chimney, the malt bin, the boilers – and introduced some cultural facilities and innovation firms, like a concert hall, interior design firm and wedding photo studio.
Recording another lifestyle
The block's occupancy rate has reached about 87 percent. Its Reeb 1987 craft bar offers choices of refined beer of Reeb, including Age Naïve Session Ale, Red Boiler Amber Ale, Reeb 1987 Classic Lager and Silent Silo Hoppy Wheat, to make up for the loss of the forever closed Reeb's beer factory.
The east block, having dismantled all the old facilities, is rising to be a model of industry-city integration, by introducing office, commercial, residential and leisure spaces.
Fei Wenyi, an artist whose work "Reeb: A Reason to Like Shanghai" won a second place in the exhibition, is a nearby resident who frequents Reeb 1987 craft bar for dinners.
Her exhibited work shows an unfolding picture of five frames of drawings linked together, including the industrial heritage, scenes of the craft bar, as well as a setting of the hit advertisement song.
"In the past I drew quite a few pen drawings on classic gardens," said Fei, who is a freelance artist from neighboring Suzhou City who now lives in Meilong.
"They're abstract, highly artistic and a bit detached from everyday life. When I came to Shanghai and drew its stores, urban lifestyle and Reeb 1987, I found joy of recording another lifestyle that is more approachable."
Zhang Ling, an art and cultural public servant in Meilong, added: "When we talk about Reeb, we'll recall the hit advertisement song. Reeb is not only a brand of beer, but more like something embedded into the vibe of Shanghai.
"We feel glad that Reeb has retained its factory houses, Shanghai-style architectures, some old brewery facilities and its long chimney in Meilong as a tribute to the city's past.
"The successful transition of Reeb from a beer brand to an industry-city integrated park is a story about Shanghai's rapid development."
Besides the pen drawing exhibition, more cultural facilities and events such as bookstores and art performances will be introduced at Reeb 1987, according to Zhang.
Runner-up prize winner "Reeb: A Reason to Like Shanghai" by Fei Wenyi
Third-prize winner "Memories of Reeb" by Bi Wenxing
