Shandong Culture

Changyu listed as national industrial heritage

(chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2018-01-02

Changyu's historical significance has been well-recorded in the more than 100 years that the company has been in operation.

The Overview of Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine Co published in a business newspaper in 1907 introduced that Changyu's Underground Grand Cellar was first built in the spring of 1896, and was rebuilt in 1902 and 1904 and finally completed in 1905.The Survey Report about Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine Co published in the Shandong Agricultural and Mineral Department Communique in 1930 described that the cellar covers an area of 4 mu (0.27 hectares), is about 10 meters underground, and has 30 long alleys inside.

Changyu listed as national industrial heritage
Changyu's Underground Grand Cellar. [Photo/Xinhua]
The cellar was listed on the seventh batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level in 2013.

According to The Past of Changyu published in 1999, the old gate of Changyu was engraved with the company's name "Changyu Pioneer Wine Co" by Weng Tongsu, an official of late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). On the gate is also engraved the company's philosophy "making various fine wine with western techniques". Above its philosophy is written "Fine Selections Wine from Western Style".

Changyu listed as national industrial heritage

The old gate of Changyu. [Photo/Xinhua]

According to the Survey on Yantai published in The Guide Weekly in 1924, Yantai once had a road named Changyu Road, but Changyu Pioneer Wine Co was located at the Dama Road. A researcher at the Changyu Wine Culture Museum said that Changyu invested in the road in front of its gate at its early stages in order to make it more convenient for the delivery of grapes from vineyard to the company. The road was then called "Changyu Road" by local citizens, renamed Zhangyu Road in 1936, later becoming Jiefang Road in 1948 until now.

The stone boundary monuments of Changyu, including monuments for Changyu Wine Store and monuments for Changyu Co, were founded in different periods. The Guide Weekly said that the company was founded by Chang Bishi, who established buildings and cellars of more than 60 mu, and built vineyards covering thousands of mu.