Originally Posted by jiejie

1) Fountain drinks and ice consumption at the western-branded restaurants like McD's and KFC are safe. Water supply does not come from tap but from bottled, and ice comes from purified ice factories. I will also use ice in drinks from "better" restaurants. In local dives and very small town restaurants, I buy canned soft drinks from the cooler, and use a straw. Cold beer is always OK. (Actually even warm beer is OK just yucky.) Bottled water is everywhere. Tap water is not OK anywhere (even though in cities like Beijing, it is treated, there are still too many potential breakdowns in the treatment and distribution process to trust it).