Family values help drive sector's development

In addition to nourishing the land, the development of vine cultivation and the winemaking industry in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region has provided many jobs and raised local people's incomes.

Yang Ying, from the Yuanshi Winery, said that 1,200 people are employed on the company's 7.2 hectares of vineyards, and most of them are local people.

"Ten years ago, the annual income of local residents was less than 1,000 yuan," she said. "Now, the monthly salary is usually more than 3,000 yuan ($420), and annual incomes have risen fortyfold."

According to data from the regional government, Ningxia's wine industry provides 130,000 jobs for people across the region, and the workers' combined annual income totals about 1 billion yuan. One-third of local people's incomes come from the wine industry.

In addition to helping the residents, the industry has attracted many college students and international experts in recent years.

For example, the Chateau Lansai winery has set up a microbiology lab, while the Ningxia Yangyang International Winery has brought in winemakers from Spain and Chile.

The sector's development has also led to cultural exchanges between Ningxia and Western countries. Two China-France Wine Culture Forums have been held in the region, during which winemakers from both countries had in-depth exchanges and deepened mutual understanding.

Currently, five dedicated wine museums and one city wine cellar have been built in the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains for tourists to visit and learn about the wine culture. Meanwhile, seven grape cultivation and vine exhibition activities have been held in the area, helping to spread the grape cultivation culture to people around the world.

He Hong, owner of the Ningxia Yangyang International Winery, said wine culture is fascinating. Both his son and daughter work at the facility.

"My son should do more physical work, exercise more, so he mainly manages the vineyard. Meanwhile, my daughter is better suited to communicating with people and passing on the culture, so she spends more time in the winery," he said.

His daughter, He Yangyang, takes the winery's products to the world's major wine regions every year to participate in exhibitions, competitions and cultural exchanges. She said that the most memorable occasion was when the renowned French wine critics Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve visited the winery and asked why her father had named it after her, despite having two children. "Because I only have one sister," her brother answered, underlining the love the family has for He Yangyang as the only female child.

The experts were deeply moved by the sentiment, and when they wrote an article to record their experiences on the trip to Ningxia, they referred to the facility as "a winery with only one sister".

Their articles illustrated the warmth of the Chinese wine industry and family wineries, and allowed people overseas to better understand Chinese culture.

Li Wenyu, He Yangyang's son, is 8 years old. The boy has accompanied his mother on many trips, but when he was asked "Which place do you think is the best?" he replied without hesitation, "the winery".

When he was asked what he wants to do in the future, he didn't say "scientist, soldier or doctor." Instead, he said, "I want to be a third-generation winery owner," adding that he wanted to make better wines that could be sold abroad.

In the winery's cellar, the mother pointed to the word He above a barrel, and told the boy: "This Chinese character consists of the characters Li ('strong'), Kou ('mouth') and Bei ('treasure'). Li represents your grandfather, through whose efforts, the winery was built; Kou represents me, as I am introducing our wine culture to the world; and Bei represents you. As a descendant of the Ningxia people, you will enjoy the riches accumulated by your predecessors."