Making Room for Moutai

Hope is riding on the operation of expressways for other landlocked cities like Renhuai, 111 kilometers northwest of Zunyi. The city is tucked in a yoke of mountains and looks forward to easier access to market for the tens of thousands brands of liquors it produces every year. 'There are many distilleries here, and the brands of spirits are legion. If we drink one brand of spirit per meal, three meals a day, then it would take three years to taste all the liquor brands of Renhuai,' said Yang Fangming, deputy chief of the CPC Renhuai City Publicity Department.

Moutai is still king; as the liquor that is designated for national banquets, it makes up one third of China's distilled spirit sales. The demand is ever more buoyant, but its output remains flat, causing a dire shortage of the beverage in the market. The Moutai Group tried to expand its production capacity by opening new plants out of its birthplace Moutai Town, but soon abandoned the plan. 'Outside of Moutai Town's mountain and waters, no genuine Moutai liquor can be produced,' said Yuan Renguo, president and general manager of the Moutai Group. The water from the Chishui River and the sorghum and wheat growing in the area��s red soil are key elements in bringing out the unique flavor of Moutai. The windless climate of the valley is also essential to the fermenting process that releases the mellow sweetness of the liquor.

Moutai Group now knows it has no place to look to but the town where it is rooted. The provincial authority has promised to earmark RMB 20 billion to double their existing production capacity in the coming five to 10 years with a target annual output of 40,000 tons. For this goal 10,000 residents of the town have to be relocated to reduce the local population to 15,000, and polluting industries, such as coal and cement, will be put under tight control.

These measures are vital to wipe out potential risks such as industrial and civil pollution, water and soil erosion, and damage to vegetation coverage, any of which could kill the true taste of Moutai liquor.

In fact, as early as 1972, then Chinese premier Zhou Enlai emphasized, 'Within 100 kilometers upstream of the Moutai distillery, no factory or mine is allowed to be built that affects the water used to make Moutai liquor. And building chemical plants is out of the question.' As a result, the ecological environment of the Chishui River has been well preserved. Yuan Renguo, president of the Moutai Group, said, 'The water looks red, but it is really sweet and refreshing.' 

(Source: China Today)