【英语财经】中国白酒挺进西方市场 Baijiu: the people’s tipple

Traditionally drunk straight, and in great volume, baijiu is China’s national spirit: the country gets through an estimated 10-17 billion litres of the grain-based liquor every year. It is central to Chinese business deals, where the banquet table trumps the boardroom, and ubiquitous at formal dinners. It’s sipped, according to toasting culture, whenever your superior asks. Calls of “Ganbei” — literally, “Dry your glass” — are common and hard to refuse.

Growing up in Beijing, I learnt about the spirit from my investor stepfather’s tales of endless toasting at business banquets — and the terrible hangovers that followed. Once, after an evening with an aviation fuel company, he described the host’s expensive baijiu as “bearing a distinct resemblance to his own products”.

Now China wants to take baijiu global. State-owned producers, boutique brands and large drinks corporations are all interested in the spirit’s export potential. If tequila can do it, so the reasoning goes, why not baijiu?

The push to sell baijiu abroad is part of a transition in the domestic market. Through the boom years, baijiu’s central role in business transactions saw sales surge with the economy. Managers of state-owned enterprises plied each other (and the relevant officials) with increasingly overpriced bottles — and billed it to the company.

But in 2012, President Xi Jinping launched a frugality campaign that banned lavish dinners and gift giving, thus cancelling the state’s de facto subsidy of the industry and bringing soaring profits down to earth. Diversifying sales by moving into untapped western markets suddenly became an increasingly attractive idea.

However, with an industrial bouquet and a throat-choking 40-60 per cent alcohol content, baijiu is reviled by many foreigners who live in China. To popularise it outside of China requires imagination, not to say blind optimism.

Wuliangye, China’s largest baijiu producer by volume, struck upon the novel approach of partnering with a London orchestra. About a year ago Liu Zhongguo, its chairman, signed a five-year sponsorship deal with the Philharmonia Orchestra as a way to “inspire people to enjoy the harmonious balance of drinking fabulous alcohol while listening to world-class classical music”. The ￡500,000 deal was signed at a Downing Street reception.

Jonathan Kuhles, who manages sponsorship for the Philharmonia, says: “Everyone [at the concerts] is very interested to try it … The longer we work with [Wuliangye], the more you get a taste for [baijiu] in a way you don’t think you will originally.”

Patrons of the Philharmonia who came to hear Chinese piano virtuoso Lang Lang at the Royal Festival Hall in London last November were offered a taste of the spirit, while VIP gift bags reinforced the message. Yet samples at a reception may be insufficient to overcome the problem of differing national palates. One theory among China-dwelling foreigners is that it takes 300 shots to stop disliking baijiu. That’s a lot of concerts.

Wuliangye’s principal production facility is a 10 sq km park in Yibin city, Sichuan, which doubles as a shrine to baijiu’s history and culture. Banners with the slogan “Wuliangye from China to the world” adorn the park. The architecture is a blend of modern, ancient and Soviet styles. The imposing entrance gate consists of two granite blocks topped by a 36m stainless-steel sculpture of the company emblem. Down the main avenue is a research centre comprising two triangular wings that reach into the sky from a central oval shaped like a “Q” (for “quality”). Further along, Tang Dynasty (618-907) poetry is carved into a rock face beside a traditional pagoda. To top it off, there is a 75m building that Guinness World Records recognises as the tallest bottle-shaped building in existence.

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白酒，通常直接饮入，且要海量豪饮，可谓中国的国酒。中国人每年要喝掉大约100亿到170亿升这种粮食酒。白酒在中国的生意场上有着重要地位，中国的生意往往是在酒桌上谈成的，而不是在会议室里，而且所有正式晚宴都能看到白酒的身影。中国有敬酒文化，只要上司要求，下属就得喝酒。人们在酒桌上常被要求“干杯”（意思是喝干你的酒杯），这一要求很难拒绝。

我从小在北京长大，继父是位投资人，我从他那儿听说了商务宴请时没完没了的敬酒，了解到这种烈酒——以及随之而来的可怕宿醉。有一次继父参加一家航空燃料公司举行的晚宴，回来后他描述主办方招待的昂贵白酒“与其产品具有明显相似之处”。

中国现在希望将白酒推向全球。包括国企生产者、著名品牌和大型酒水企业在内，全都对白酒的出口潜力产生了兴趣。如果龙舌兰酒可以为全球市场接受，那么同样道理，白酒为什么不行？

将白酒推销到海外市场是国内市场转型的一部分。在中国经济繁荣时期，由于在商业交易中的重要地位，白酒销量随着腾飞的经济一起突飞猛进。国企经理们以及有关官员拿着越来越贵的白酒彼此劝酒，最后都是公司买单。

但2012年，中国国家主席习近平发起节俭运动，禁止大吃大喝、送礼等行为，从而取消了国家对白酒行业事实上的补贴，该行业飞涨的利润也回归到合理水平。拓展尚未开发的西方市场，进行多元化销售成了越来越有吸引力的想法。

但很多住在中国的外国人都对白酒没好感，其酒精含量达到40%—60%，不但喝下去烧喉咙，闻起来还有股工业味。想让白酒名扬海外，就算不是盲目乐观，也需要些想象力。

中国以销量计最大的白酒生产商五粮液(Wuliangye)偶然想到了一个新颖的推销方式——与伦敦交响乐团合作。大约一年前，五粮液董事长刘中国与英国爱乐乐团(Philharmonia Orchestra)签署了5年赞助合同，以此“激发人们找到品尝优质白酒和聆听世界级古典音乐之间的和谐平衡”。双方在英国政府举办的招待会上签署了这笔50万英镑的协议。

爱乐乐团负责赞助事务的乔纳森?库勒斯(Jonathan Kuhles)表示：“（参加音乐会的）每个人都非常有兴趣尝一尝……与五粮液合作的时间越长，我们就越能品出白酒的味道，而最开始时我们以为自己是品味不出的。”

去年11月，中国钢琴演奏家朗朗在伦敦皇家节日音乐厅(Royal Festival Hall)举办演奏会，五粮液为前来聆听的爱乐乐团听众举办了白酒品鉴会，更以贵宾礼品袋加强宣传。但招待会上的样品恐怕不足以让西方人克服不同民族口味的问题。在中国生活的外国人中间流传着这样一种说法，你得喝掉300杯白酒，才能接受它的味道。照这一理论，那得举办好多场音乐会才行。

五粮液在四川宜宾有一个占地10平方公里的园区，这里既是五粮液的主要生产基地，也是白酒的历史、文化圣地。园区里处处可见写着“中国的五粮液，世界的五粮液”口号的条幅。里面的建筑混合了现代、古典和苏联风格。宏伟的大门由两块花岗岩基座组成，上面架着高达36米、不锈钢铸成的厂徽。顺着主干道一路前行，可以看见一座研究中心，它的两个三角形侧翼直耸云霄，连同中间的椭圆形建筑，组成了一个"Q"型，象征着“质量”。再往前走，一座古代宝塔旁立着块岩石，上面刻着唐代(618-907)诗歌。整个园区最为壮观的就是一座75米高的酒瓶型建筑，它已作为世界最高的瓶形建筑物列入吉尼斯世界纪录(Guinness World Records)。

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