https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/rss/63819/feed Baijiu is a liquor (the word means white liquor) distilled in China that is sought after for official banquets and for gifts. Kweichow Moutai is probably the best known baijiu. Sales of the potent white spirit have risen in recent years, powered by a boom in the luxury market in China. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg Hand sanitizers have become a scarce commodity as the virus spreads around the world. To respond to the shortage, several baijiu companies in China have switched to producing sanitizer. Baijiu is a distilled liquor known for its high alcohol content, usually around 40% but sometimes as high as 65%. Because of its strong flavor, it is often paired with intense dishes such as spicy hot pot. (Read more: Everything you've wanted to know about China's potent liquor, baijiu) One distiller, Guomei,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/food/coronavirus-chinese-baijiu-hand-sanitizer/article/3076474?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/food/coronavirus-chinese-baijiu-hand-sanitizer/article/3076474?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Mar 2020 11:21:39 +0000 Baijiu is the most-consumed spirit in the world, but most of those drinkers are in China. Producers of the spirit want to change that. Although people drank some 2.7 billion gallons of baijiu in 2018, efforts to take “China’s national drink” abroad have so far failed to take off. Yet distilleries in China remain optimistic they can follow the path to international fame taken by once-obscure drinks such as vodka and tequila. Watch the video above to find out more. https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/china/china-wants-take-its-national-spirit-baijiu-around-world/article/3015122?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/china/china-wants-take-its-national-spirit-baijiu-around-world/article/3015122?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Jun 2019 09:40:57 +0000 We’ve written about baijiu here before. A potent Chinese liquor with a stinging taste, baijiu is the most popular spirit in its home country—by virtue making it the best-selling alcohol in the world—but it’s almost completely unknown everywhere else. In recent years, some companies have started to market baijiu to the West, plugging it as a suitable cocktail mixer. But one immigrant family has been selling it in the United States for over a decade. “It was a fortunate thing that we were ignorant... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/food/chinese-vietnamese-american-immigrant-family-baijiu-portland-oregon-vinn-distillery/article/3012490?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/food/chinese-vietnamese-american-immigrant-family-baijiu-portland-oregon-vinn-distillery/article/3012490?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 May 2019 11:05:00 +0000 No matter how often the beverage industry touts the potent Chinese liquor baijiu 白酒 as the “most purchased spirit in the world” (simply by the sheer size of the Chinese market), it remains unknown to most of the world. It makes up less than 1% of distilled spirits sold in the United States, according to the Distilled Spirits Council, and it doesn’t help that the high-alcohol liquor—sometimes as high as 65%—has a stinging flavor that’s been invariably described as “firewater,” “moonshine,” and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/food/baijiu-cocktails-liquor/article/3009728?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/food/baijiu-cocktails-liquor/article/3009728?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 May 2019 11:20:18 +0000 We got an inside tour of Jian Nan Chun 剑南春, a baijiu factory in Sichuan, and found out how the world's most consumed liquor is made. Written by: Clarissa Wei Voiceover: Clarissa Wei & Dolly Li Featuring: Jian Nan Chun Produced by: Clarissa Wei & Dolly Li Shot by: Mario Chui & Nicholas Ko Edited by: Nicholas Ko Mastered by: Victor Peña https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/videos/inside-very-large-baijiu-factory/article/2160462?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/videos/inside-very-large-baijiu-factory/article/2160462?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Aug 2018 06:00:45 +0000 Baijiu is the drink of choice in China—and in turn the world’s most consumed spirit. It is by a long shot, too, with more than twice the amount of baijiu drunk every year compared with vodka in distant second.   Baijiu is a complex, intense drink and one that often poses a challenge to new drinkers, scared off by its high alcohol percentage, funky flavors, and the warnings of others who have had unhappy initial encounters (often with poor-quality baijiu, or pressed to overdrink in some social... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/food/everything-youve-wanted-know-about-chinas-potent-liquor-baijiu/article/2160170?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/food/everything-youve-wanted-know-about-chinas-potent-liquor-baijiu/article/2160170?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Aug 2018 07:15:15 +0000 A young migrant worker has died after excessive drinking at a company lunch and dinner in southern China, according to a newspaper report. The 29-year-old’s death is the latest connected with binge drinking at banquets in China where there is traditionally a macho drinking and toasting culture. The man who died worked as a driver at a logistics company in Guangzhou and he was asked to drink with colleagues at lunch and dinner on Friday as China prepares for the Lunar New Year holiday later this... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/society/article/2132225/chinese-man-29-dies-after-boozy-company-lunch-and-dinner?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/society/article/2132225/chinese-man-29-dies-after-boozy-company-lunch-and-dinner?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Feb 2018 06:30:45 +0000 China’s palate for baijiu, a fiery liquor that was Mao Zedong’s favourite tipple, has pushed the share price of its most famous distiller Kweichow Moutai to become China’s most expensive stock, in the process valuing the company at more than half of the economy of its home province of Guizhou. Moutai’s shares touched a record intraday high of 500.10 yuan each on August 14, and recently changed hands at 491.27 yuan in Shanghai, giving the company based in the township of Maotai 617 billion yuan... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/china-business/article/2108844/baijiu-maker-kweichow-moutai-now-worth-more-half-its-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/china-business/article/2108844/baijiu-maker-kweichow-moutai-now-worth-more-half-its-home?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Aug 2017 01:17:37 +0000 Chinese people may be shifting away from traditional alcoholic drinks like baijiu, an industry already hit hard by Beijing’s crackdown on corruption, but top distillers like Kweichow Moutai still offer a good investment opportunity, says a new Macquarie research report. Macquarie rates the nation’s top distillers, including the Shanghai-listed Kweichow Moutai, and Shenzhen-listed Yanghe Brewery as “outperform”, tagging the first as its top pick among China’s alcoholic beverage companies. “We... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/markets/article/1908092/gan-bei-top-baijiu-stocks-even-outlook-dims-traditional-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/markets/article/1908092/gan-bei-top-baijiu-stocks-even-outlook-dims-traditional-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Feb 2016 06:00:15 +0000 Baijiu, a flammable, pungent white liquor averaging a 110-proof wallop, is the world's most consumed form of liquor, thanks to its popularity on the mainland, but for the first time distillers are looking to develop export markets. According to data from International Wine & Spirit Research, mainlanders drank more than 11 billion litres of baijiu last year, and the spirit, distilled from sorghum, wheat or rice, accounted for more than one-third of all spirits consumed in the world. But as a new... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/china-business/article/1249877/chinas-baijiu-makers-eye-overseas-markets-increase-revenues?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/china-business/article/1249877/chinas-baijiu-makers-eye-overseas-markets-increase-revenues?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Chinese baijiu, a flammable, pungent white liquor averaging a 110-proof wallop, is the world’s most consumed form of liquor thanks to its popularity in China, but for the first time distillers are looking to develop export markets. According to data from International Wine & Spirit Research, Chinese people drank over 11 billion litres of baijiu last year; the spirit, distilled from sorghum, wheat or rice, accounted for more than one-third of all spirits consumed in the world. But as a new... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/article/1249156/move-over-tequila-here-comes-baijiu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/article/1249156/move-over-tequila-here-comes-baijiu?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 May 2013 13:04:24 +0000 The mainland's top liquor makers, Kweichow Moutai and Wuliangye Yibin, have been fined 449 million yuan (HK$558 million) for breaking price monopoly rules, as the government gets tough on anticompetitive practices. The two firms admitted on their official websites earlier that they had violated antimonopoly laws by charging penalties to distributors who sold their baijiu alcohol products at lower prices than the producers had required. The National Development and Reform Commission started an... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/china-business/article/1154163/mainland-distillers-fined-449m-yuan-price-fixing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/china-business/article/1154163/mainland-distillers-fined-449m-yuan-price-fixing?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Top-priced Baijiu, the fiery spirit traditionally drunk during Lunar New Year, was noticeably absent from gan bei gatherings this year in response to a government campaign against public spending and extravagance. Gan bei, which translates from Putonghua as "dry the glass", refers to the drinking culture at mainland dinner tables, in particular during Lunar New Year, when Baijiu, or "white liquor", is the drink of choice used for toasts. But Baijiu, particularly the more expensive brands, was... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/china-business/article/1148944/baijiu-sales-hit-chinas-crackdown-extravagance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/china-business/article/1148944/baijiu-sales-hit-chinas-crackdown-extravagance?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Western alcoholic beverage giant SABMiller (London: SAB) is making headlines for its newly announced deal to buy a major Chinese beer maker, raising the interesting possibility that other foreign firms could soon make bids for makers of traditional baijiu liquor. For those who don't follow the China liquor market too closely, baijiu makers have been under pressure since the beginning of the year, when media first began reporting that their products contained unsafe levels of plasticisers. The... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/companies/article/1144439/sabmiller-thirsts-china-market?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/companies/article/1144439/sabmiller-thirsts-china-market?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Feb 2013 04:44:34 +0000 Mao-tai is at a crossroads. Prices for the highly alcoholic drink have collapsed after a de facto ban on its use at official functions. Meanwhile, global luxury brands are circling the market and snapping up stakes in distillers that make sorghum-based spirits. The two trends are not contradictory. The market has hit a wobbly patch, partly due to a slowing economy and partly because of a recent desire among officials to play down the role of mao-tai at official gatherings. But the drink's... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/1004279/spirit-free-enterprise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/1004279/spirit-free-enterprise?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Jun 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Xu Guanghui had not seen his family for two years when he sat down for a celebratory feast in Luzhou, Sichuan province. The 34-hour bus journey over bumpy roads to get to his family from his job in Guangdong had taken its toll, and he was apprehensive about the homecoming. Over Sichuanese dishes of shuizhu huangshan (spicy yellow eel) and fenggan niurou (wind-dried sliced beef), washed down with baijiu, a strong white liquor, the migrant worker was welcomed by his wife of 26 years, his elderly... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/999904/loneliness-long-distance-worker?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/999904/loneliness-long-distance-worker?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 It has been just under 20 years since Belgian Jack Leblanc heeded a call to go to China and arrived in Chongqing with a suitcase of science books to teach at a university. The freshly minted nuclear physics graduate had abandoned the prospect of a car and a house in the Brussels suburbs for the unknowns of the teeming, riverside metropolis. Since then, Leblanc has gone from teaching computer science on a pre-internet mainland campus to refining his version of the art of the deal in one of the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/677456/starters-road-map-world-business?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/677456/starters-road-map-world-business?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0000 Several toasts into a long dinner for visiting reporters, an official in the old steel town of Benxi is inspired to share a traditional saying from northeastern China: 'If you have liquor without food, it can be bad for your health. But if you have food without liquor, then you don't have any liquor.' Banish the thought. Alcohol in various forms has been part of the Chinese lifestyle and culture for millennia. The national tipple is baijiu, a throat-scorching liquor usually distilled from... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/645585/fondness-tipple-keeps-stills-boil?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/645585/fondness-tipple-keeps-stills-boil?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Former printer Xu Weiqing was quick to spot a gap in the market and opened a small store selling foreign-brand liquor in the increasingly popular yet traditional area of Jiaodaokou, in the heart of Beijing. With the Olympics approaching he predicted the rising number of foreigners moving to the capital would have a growing influence on young Chinese drinkers - and he has been proved right, with a mostly local clientele taking the Gordon's and Captain Morgan's from his shelves. When did you... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/635729/xu-weiqing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/635729/xu-weiqing?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Wang Kun owns a successful import-export company in Dandong, Liaoning province, near the North Korean border. He's also in hospital, suffering from exhaustion and high blood pressure. And he hasn't even turned 40. Like other mainland millionaires - of which there were about 236,000 last year - Wang is buckling under the pressures of running a company. 'Every day I have to meet so many clients and officials,' he says. 'My brain is overloaded.' Yet even from his hospital bed, Wang is busy... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/610058/strain-spotting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/610058/strain-spotting?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Beijing has been witnessing huge growth in the wine industry in recent years, with rising numbers of expatriate palates yearning to be satisfied. Bulk e-mails from all sorts of wine companies and ads in expat magazines tantalise potential customers with wine-related events, the free delivery of cases of fine wines and special buffet lunches with wine as the main lure. There are all kinds of wine-tasting events to choose from, almost weekly. Prices range from 200 yuan for an afternoon sipping... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/545072/grape-expectations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/545072/grape-expectations?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Apr 2006 16:00:00 +0000 Ah, the sounds of dining out in Beijing: the 'clink' of cup after cup of baijiu; the raised voices; the spitting out of bones, saliva and more; the shouting matches and near fights over who pays the bill. Above it all, however, are the shouts of xiao jie! ('waitress!') that echo throughout the room. I admit that I have picked up most of those habits, which for the most part, I keep in check when I go abroad. Except, that is, for shouting for the server. In a country where 'serve the people' is... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/493653/airing-her-grievances?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/493653/airing-her-grievances?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Mar 2005 16:00:00 +0000 Shanghainese business travellers to Beijing or other northern cities often fear entertaining clients who have a fondness for bai jiu - Chinese white spirit. Unlike northerners who know how to handle their drink, Shanghainese find bai jiu too strong for their liking. To them, it tastes like kerosene - a few gulps and that warm glow soon turns into an unpleasant fiery rush. Not, apparently, a drink to be savoured. A Shanghai broker who often travels to Beijing on business, said: 'The worse... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/287429/old-tipple-misses-spirit-times?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/287429/old-tipple-misses-spirit-times?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Jul 1999 16:00:00 +0000 For thousands of years, Chinese have drunk spirits with meals and during festivals. Traditional drinkers are fond of white spirits (or baijiu ) which are high in alcohol content. 'Taking white spirits is a traditional habit. As the saying goes: What is a feast without white spirits?' said Nie Fengying , Shanghai representative of Shanxi Xinghuacun Fenjiu Distillery, China's second-largest distillery. 'Northerners and peasants prefer strong drinks with high alcohol content. There is no 'oomph'... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/155900/modern-tastes-threaten-spirit-tradition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/155900/modern-tastes-threaten-spirit-tradition?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Apr 1996 16:00:00 +0000 THE mainland's English-language China Daily is not known for its startling insights. But an article last week by staff writer Kang Bing entitled ''Chinese Social Drinking Primer'' revealed people in large tracts of China are pickling themselves in strong drink. In icy Harbin ''a drinking contest with the locals can mean downing a dozen bottles or more'' of baijiu or white spirits. Some residents can apparently get through 24 bottles in two hours, the article claims, making us wonder... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/41277/primed-and-pickled-toast-new-friends?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/41277/primed-and-pickled-toast-new-friends?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Aug 1993 16:00:00 +0000