Shandong Culture

Changyu listed as national industrial heritage

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

An advertisement Changyu First Uses Western Technique to Make Wine published in Fiction Monthly in 1918 showed that the company's most expensive product was Cognac Brandy, at 24 yuan a dozen. The most expensive white wine was Traminer, 18 yuan a dozen. The most expensive red wine was Cabernet Franc, 14 yuan a dozen. The English label of Cognac Brandy was Chefoo Cognac. China started its geographical indicator protection for Cognac in 2009.

Later, Changyu's Cognac Brandy was divided into gold star cognac and red star cognac. Currently, Changyu Wine Culture Museum preserves a bottle of gold star Cognac Brandy made in 1928.

The high school textbook Modern and Contemporary Chinese History published by the People's Education Press includes a picture of Sun Yat-sen's inscription for Changyu "Pin Zhong Li Quan" written on Aug 21, 1912. The caption of the picture was "Overseas Chinese businessman Chang Bishi founded Changyu Pioneer Wine Co in Yantai. And Sun Yat-sen has written an inscription for the company".

A report Sun Yat-sen in Yantai published on a business newspaper Shun Pao on Aug 27, 1912 mentioned that Sun Yat-sen visited Changyu after five o'clock and stayed there for an hour.

Changyu listed as national industrial heritage

Changyu Wine Culture Museum. [Photo/Xinhua]

At the Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in the San Francisco in 1915, Changyu's products Keya Brandy, Chefoo Red Rose Wine, Vermouth and Riesling Dry White Wine won gold medals. According to the winning list of Chinese companies attending the Panama-Pacific International Exposition compiled by Chen Qi, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, Changyu wine was the only one that took prizes in the name of a company among all the winning Chinese liquor.

Also, according to a book published in San Francisco in 1915 about Chen Qi feting US envoy to China Paul Samuel Reinsch, a special agent of US government Lama, and Chinese envoy to Mexico Gu Weijun, the feast was accompanied by Chinese instruments. And Changyu wine, both smelling and tasting good, was greatly praised by the westerners. All the guests who tasted the wine were fascinated.

On Nov 19, 2017, the promotional film of Changyu's ninth generation Cabernet debuted in Times Square. It is reported that Changyu's Cabernet has been sold in more than 5,000 European supermarkets. Its global sales are expected to exceed 490 million bottles. René Gabriel, chief editor of a Swedish magazine WEINWISSER once commented Changyu's Cabernet, "This excellent Chinese wine shows that even large-scale produced wine can have excellent quality and reasonable price."

Changyu's industrial heritage has witnessed a centennial of development. The company hasn't buried this heritage in dust, but vitalized it and incorporated it into the system of Changyu wine industrial tourism.

Changyu has also made it onto the list of China National Industrial Tourism Demonstration Bases released by the China National Tourism Administration in November. The winemaker's industrial tourism system has become a key channel for consumers to know the history and culture of Chinese wine.

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