Latest news with #baijiu
South China Morning Post
12-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Moutai, China's premier liquor brand, may find austerity rules hard to swallow
China's premier liquor distiller Kweichow Moutai – a brand that had, over decades, become synonymous with sumptuous feasts – is heeding a renewed mandate for austerity from Beijing, distancing its products from the extravagant hard-drinking lifestyle with which it had been linked in the public consciousness. Advertisement Management at the company, valued at 1.86 trillion yuan (US$258.73 billion), has pledged to comply with strictures stressing thrift – guidelines that have helped to remove Moutai's expensive baijiu liquor from government banquets and narrowed the firm's profit margin further. Senior executives vowed to remain vigilant against the risks of corruption at a company meeting on Tuesday, where Moutai chairman Zhang Deqin invoked classic Chinese texts to argue the liquor must promote culture, health and harmony. 'With the baijiu, rites and traditions are upheld, the aged are nourished and joy is shared,' Zhang said, citing the Book of Rites and the Classic of Poetry, both of which date back centuries. Moutai's notoriously strong liquor – around 50 per cent alcohol by volume – has been the drink of choice for China's officials and executives since the early years of the Communist Party. Advertisement After revolutionary leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai developed a taste for the spirit during their time in the southwestern province of Guizhou, the distinct white bottles have been given as official gifts to visiting dignitaries and become a fixture at lavish dinners.
Bloomberg
12-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
China Forced to Keep Unprofitable Firms Alive to Save Jobs and Avoid Unrest
On the factory floor of a 69-year-old liquor plant in northwestern China, a dozen workers toil away sticking labels by hand on bottles of a fiery liquor known as baijiu, the nation's most popular spirit. The inefficiency on display at Shaanxi Qinyang Changsheng Brewing Co. — a firm that hasn't turned a profit since 2020 — might seem like an anomaly in a country where robots are replacing manual labor. But it's a scene replicated across the nation, as company owners and local officials go to great lengths to protect jobs and keep struggling firms alive.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Xinhua Silk Road: China's Anhui Gujing Distillery shines at 2025 int'l forum on RCEP cooperation
BEIJING, June 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2025 RCEP Local Governments and Friendship Cities Cooperation (Huangshan) Forum opened in Huangshan City, east China's Anhui Province on June 5, gathering some 300 delegates from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member countries. Anhui Gujing Distillery Company, as the forum's strategic partner for three consecutive sessions, has fueled regional cooperation while showcasing the charms of Chinese baijiu to the world. The company has introduced live-streaming this year at its booth at the forum to promote its latest product, a commemorative liquor to mark its partnership with the China Pavilion at Osaka Expo. Besides, holographic projections have also vividly displayed Gujinggong Liquor's journey with the World Expo over six editions. During the forum's opening ceremony, the liquor maker inked an agreement with South Korea's Anhui Industrial Development Co., Ltd. to expand its sales in the South Korean market and boost its global presence. According to the company, its debut in South Korea dates back to as early as 2012, during the Yeosu Expo and it plans to be part of the Seoul Food 2025 to further advance its presence in the South Korean market. After the opening ceremony, Liang Jinhui, chairman of Gujing Group, participated in discussions on overseas sales and promotion of Chinese baijiu and the combination of Chinese baijiu and the big health industry products, exploring diversified regional cooperation models for mutual benefit. During a side event of the forum, Ju Kai, director of the International Department of the company, promoted the company's products with a case of the cooperation of Gujinggong Liquor with Bozhou's traditional Chinese medicine, as a key step for the company to explore the big health industry. In recent years, the company has contributed significantly to promoting Chinese baijiu and Anhui local culture globally, as well as facilitating international wine culture exchanges, through a series of international events. Thanks to its unique brewing techniques and profound history, the company's core strategic product series, Original Vintage, is now exported to over 30 countries and regions. Original link: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Wall Street Journal
10-06-2025
- Wall Street Journal
Xi Tightens Leash on Officials' Boozing and Lavish Living
Local officials gathered in China's central city of Xinyang in March for a seminar about regulations requiring them to be frugal. Over lunch, five officials consumed four bottles of baijiu, a fiery sorghum-based spirit, flouting the very rules they had studied. One of them died that afternoon, according to an official account, which didn't state the cause of death. The officials at the lunch tried to hide the illicit consumption of alcohol, the account said, by paying off the deceased official's family and omitting the drinking in their reports to superiors.
South China Morning Post
07-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Baijiu blues: China's Gen Z rewriting liquor industry as tastes change, consumption dips
Selecting which crops to grow each season can be a make-or-break decision for farmers. And in the ancient Chinese town of Baisha, famous for its liquor production, more and more are sowing seeds of change in a bid to capitalise on the evolving tastes of consumers. Located in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing and home to the distillery of Chinese baijiu distilled-liquor brand Jiang Xiao Bai, the town is seeing its farmland increasingly being used to grow green plums instead of sorghum grain. Both are key ingredients in producing certain spirits, but unlike sorghum, which is primarily used in traditional fiery baijiu distillation, green plums are used to produce much lighter and fruitier wine. 'Innovative low-alcohol drinks mark a very clear market trend in China,' said Fan Li, PR director of Bottle Planet, which owns Jiang Xiao Bai. 'We are embracing changes in the market.' To ensure their legacy continues, more Chinese liquor brands are innovating their products, with an increased focus on low-alcohol, fruit-flavoured beverages instead of grain-based baijiu, as they seek to expand their consumer base from predominantly middle-aged men to other demographics such as young urban women. 06:07 Why many young people in China are looking for a reset by flocking to the countryside Why many young people in China are looking for a reset by flocking to the countryside Industry insiders say the younger generation could upend China's alcohol market, where baijiu, with around 50 per cent alcohol content, has long been the mainstream tipple of choice. In a shift from traditional alcohol consumption, which revolves around social rituals, they say the younger generation is prioritising self-indulgent experiences – with drinking occasions maturing from networking obligations to emotional companionship.
