Signs that foreign companies might be the primary targets of the law began to emerge in November, when a merger between two brewers, America's Anheuser-Busch and Belgium's InBev, was endorsed by Chinese regulators only on the condition that the combined firm's existing interest in several domestic breweries be frozen.

ECONOMIST: Coca-Cola in China

Belgium's Anheuser-Busch InBev, which makes Budweiser, is the world's leading brewer.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

Anheuser-Busch was purchased by Belgium's InBev in 2008.

WSJ: Constellation's shares soar on revised beer deal