Since September 20, 1991, Tsingtao Beer 青島啤酒 has been recognised as a well-known trademark in China. It was approved this status by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) during the first batch of China’s Well-known Trademarks. Wang Jun, of Deheng Law Firm has a nice overview of the dual track system of well-known trademarks, see on China IP here.
This means that if Tsingtao Beer did not register its trademark it would still be able to stop other people of using the brand name for the same product category (beer). If they registered the well-known trademark, which they did, they canalso protect the trademarked brand against use in all product categories (even unrelated to beer).
More about the fundamentals of well-known trademarks see here:
- What Can A Famous Food Brand Do Against Footwear Using Its Mark?
- Excellent Intro to Well-known Trademarks in China
