'Tis the season to make merry as the German beer flows in the Chinese capital.

One-two-three-four!

I never thought I'd be doing this in China.

The music is quick and lively, a happy little polka. Immediately I'm on my feet, along with my friend from Alabama, and we're holding our hands out at right angles, shaping them into bird beaks. One-two-three-four!

We make "chicken wings" with our arms on the next four beats, and suddenly our Chinese friends are on their feet, too. But they have not succumbed to the staccato lure of The Chicken Dance. They've simply grabbed their cellphones, eager to send off two dancing fools to Internet stardom.

This big giggle is unfolding at Beijing's second annual Oktoberfest, billed as the only such event sanctioned outside of Germany by the Munich Oktoberfest Committee.

That German city, known for launching the political career of a dour Austrian corporal with a signature mustache, has been most famously a tent city every autumn since 1810. When the tree leaves turn to gold, thousands gather for two weeks of sipping suds and sharing hearty German fare.

The happy times start in late September or early October in Munich, but the region's local oompah bands fan out worldwide for celebrations in the weeks before and after.

That doesn't make the Beijing party quite as Bavarian as pope emeritus Benedict XVI: some of the beer - and the bright-red frankfurter on my sausage plate - seem to have, um, Chinese characteristics. And after a long set that has the Westerners in the crowd recalling wedding receptions from home, the merry musicians from Munich yield the stage to a Chinese band, and the booming baritones belting out Der Mai Ist Gekommen give way to a crowd-pleasing Chinese singalong.

The menu has something for everyone as well. The roast chicken was crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside on our first visit, although a bit dry on our second.

The Munich-style white sausages were terrific, sharing the plate with a nicely tart sauerkraut and a savory bread dumpling.

Other entree options include grilled fish, fried pork steak and an Oktoberfest classic: fried pork knuckle. Also available: roast lamb - 1,600 yuan ($260) for a whole lamb - grilled squid, cold black fungus and other Chinese-style fare. Dessert was a choice of fruit plate or toasted bread squares with fruit. (Memo to organizers: think apple strudel.)

As we ruminated over the draft beer selection (dark, light, lighter), our server volunteered the info that the dark beer was German but the lighter options were Chinese. Fair enough, perhaps - you can't fill a 13,000-square-meter tent with happy drinkers without embracing local sponsors and local taste.

As a fan of the blackest possible beer, I was happy as a schwein in slop with my 1-liter glass mug of rich, dark draft (100 yuan), or you could pay 60 yuan for a liter of Yanjing.

Beijing's two-week-long Oktoberfest at the Olympic Park ends Aug 30, but don't fret if you've missed that fun.

German restaurants and hotels are just gearing up for their own celebrations, including the Kempinski Beijing, where fresh Paulaner beer and servers in traditional dirndl dresses and leather lederhosen will kick off that annual party on Oct 10.

Last year we saw a server carry 16 mugs of beer at one time - we can only hope she's back this year!

Prost!

(China Daily USA 09/01/2014 page11)