The cultural quality of Moutai liquor

The sound of water on Qingwa Long Street - Thoughts on the cultural quality of Kweichow Moutai liquor

For many years, we have talked about liquor culture. We talk about cultural wine, but what exactly is culture? Where is the culture? But no one can make a clear and clear arrangement and summary. I think that in a specific carrier like Kweichow Moutai, its cultural character is mainly reflected in the four words of loyalty, filial piety, loyalty and justice. To win glory for the country and be honest in national affairs is called loyalty. A son fulfills his mother's wishes and works diligently at home; this is called filial piety. Don't envy the prosperity, don't change the place; that's called integrity. It protects the body and keeps the body healthy, and does not harm the drinker; this is called meaning. Loyalty, filial piety, justice and righteousness are the four pillars of national wine culture.

1

Let us start with a piece of history.

Two thousand years ago, Sima Qian told us a story about the discovery of Yelang in his "Historical Records", which is "the swansong of a historian and the rhymeless story". The protagonist of this story is called Tang Meng. Around 135 BC, when Tang Meng was on a mission to the Nanyue Kingdom, which was divided between Guangdong and Guangxi in the last years of the Qin Dynasty, he had the opportunity to eat a food called wolfberry sauce at a banquet. While Tang Meng was eating, he casually asked the owner: This food is delicious. Is it produced locally? The owner also answered him casually: This thing comes from the country of Yelang. Yelang is to the west of South Vietnam. There is a Zangda River flowing down from Yelang, and it enters the sea under Panyu, the capital of South Vietnam, which is today's Guangzhou. Tang Meng was concerned and brought Gojiang back to Chang'an. A Shu businessman knew the origin of wolfberry sauce and told him that it was produced in Shu. The Shu people secretly sold it to Yelang, who then sold it to South Vietnam. When Tang Meng heard this, he immediately became energetic. At that time, the Han court did not know that there was a Yelang country next to Shu. After further questioning, the Shu merchants told him that the Yelang Kingdom was "close to the Zangchang River, and the river was more than a hundred paces wide, enough for a boat to sail..." After Tang Meng learned about this, he presented wolfberry sauce to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for tasting. Emperor Wu said "it's sweet". Tang Meng took advantage of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's happiness and further suggested to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that if he attacked South Vietnam from Hunan and Jiangxi, it would be difficult to achieve success due to the high mountains and dangerous roads. It is suggested that the imperial court use the power of Bashu to subdue Yelang, and Yelang can get more than 100,000 elite soldiers, and then float down from the Cangzhou River to take advantage of the surprise attack and take South Vietnam into the territory. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty appreciated Tang Meng's suggestion very much. As a heroic leader, he was keenly aware of the huge strategic opportunities contained in this suggestion itself. So in 135 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty appointed Tang Meng as Lieutenant General Lang. He led a thousand Han troops, led 10,000 civilians, and carried a large number of gifts along the Chishui River into Yelang. Under Tang Meng's persuasion and the temptation of various gifts, King Duotong of Yelang and some small countries around Yelang all submitted to the Han Dynasty. This incident was called "Tang Meng Tong Yelang" by later generations. It has a huge and far-reaching impact on southwest China.

Sima Qian not only told us a story about Yelang, he also said this passage in the story: "The King of Dian and the Han envoy said: Which Han is greater than me? The same goes for the Marquis of Yelang. "Because the roads are blocked, each of them thinks he is the master of one state, and he doesn't know how big the Han Dynasty is." This means that when the envoys of the Han Dynasty went to the Dian Kingdom, the King of Dian asked him if the Han Kingdom was as big as the Dian Kingdom. Back to Yelang, Yelang also asked the same question. Because of the barrier of Guanshan, they did not know how vast the Han was; in fact, Dian and Yelang were only equivalent to one state of the Han. Because of Sima Qian's words, later generations omitted the King of Dian and derived the famous idiom "Yelang is arrogant" to laugh and warn those who do not know their own abilities and are arrogant.

In fact, Yelang was not too young at that time. Her actual territory included approximately the entire territory of Guizhou today, part of Sichuan, part of Chongqing, part of Yunnan, part of Guangxi, and part of Hunan. . A country of this size is not small even today. At that time, the Han Dynasty mainly centered on the Yellow River Basin. Most areas south of the Yangtze River and north of the Great Wall were still in a state of being out of reach of the country. This was not yet the concept of Greater China. Moreover, under the historical conditions of extreme traffic congestion and poor information at that time, the King of Dian and King Yelang asked the Han envoy who was bigger? There may be a bit of humility and prudence in it, and it means knowing what you know and not knowing what you don’t know.

It was precisely because of such a historical event as "Tang Meng Tong Yelang", and then he surrendered to the Dian Kingdom as a matter of course, and soon sent his troops to capture South Vietnam and East Vietnam, that the territory of the Han Dynasty was finally outlined. The basic outline of today's China in the southwest and southeast directions is shown. As for such a major event of opening up territory, its initial origin was actually the cup of wolfberry sauce that the South Vietnamese people diligently brought.

Without this cup of wolfberry sauce, there would not have been the questions and answers between Tang Meng and the South Vietnamese officials, and there would have been no strategic planning and strategic implementation of the Han Dynasty for the southern territory. In other words, this kind of strategic planning and strategic implementation will be delayed for several years because of an unintentional mistake. According to many researches by later generations, this kind of wolfberry sauce praised by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was a kind of wine carefully brewed by the ancestors of the Gelao people who lived in the Chishui River Basin - and also the Pu people who constituted the main ethnic group of Yelang and other countries in the southwest. . From then on, gourd sauce traveled north, west and south. It was very likely that it became a model and symbol of a noble life at that time, intoxicating a magnificent Han Dynasty. This kind of wine, which triggered and witnessed the great expansion of the country's territory and played an important role in it, has been shaped into the world-famous Kweichow Moutai after two thousand years of reincarnation and hard work.

二

Maotai Town is located in the mountains of the Dalou Mountains, geographically at the northern edge of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. It originates from Yunnan and winds down the Chishui River. flowing around her. The earliest name of this place was Masang Bay, and later it was also called Sifangjing. After the Song Dynasty, the name Maotai began to appear. According to the research of local history experts, the origin of this name originated from a high platform left in ancient times on the river bank where Pu people worshiped their ancestors. This high platform, which was later abandoned, was obscured by the thatch that grew luxuriantly year after year over the long years. For a long time, the people simply called this place "thatched platform". Today's Moutai name is actually the abbreviation of "Maotai" in the past. The old people in the past often said that this place has the feng shui of thirsty dragons coming out of the mountains and thousands of horses returning to their troughs, and it contains the aura of kings. But this Wang Qi has been talked about among the common people for hundreds of years, but it has never been revealed.

For more than a thousand years since Gojiang and the Han Dynasty, Moutai has been an important gateway between Guizhou and Sichuan. Whether it is called Masangwan, Sifangjing, Maocotai, or any other name, the brewing industry in this area has not only never cut off its continuous fragrance, but also gradually flourished after entering the Qing Dynasty. During the Jiaqing and Daoguang years of the Qing Dynasty, according to the "Zunyi Prefecture Chronicle", "there were no less than 20 Moutai (wine-making) burning houses, and the cost of mountain food was no less than 20,000 shi." Moreover, the wine he brewed was called "Maotai Shao", which was "the first in Guizhou Province" at that time. However, no one expected that Maotai's liquor industry would suffer a disaster just at this time of prosperity.

It was the middle of the 19th century, during the reign of Xian and Qing dynasties in the Qing Dynasty. China, which was plagued by disasters, internal and external troubles, was struggling and groaning in the flames of revolution and pools of blood on the ground. Although the Maotai area is located in a remote corner of the southwest, it cannot be contented with being a paradise for a while. In 1862, Shi Dakai, a famous general of the Taiping Rebellion and King of Wings, was divided due to internal strife. After the "Tianjing Incident", he led more than 100,000 troops to Guizhou in a bloody battle, hoping to open up a new situation in Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan. In the winter of this year, Shi Dakai sent his troops to attack Zunyi City. Unexpectedly, although Zunyi was small, the resistance of the Qing army and militia was very tenacious. Shi Dakai was unable to attack Zunyi for a long time, and received news that reinforcements from various places were arriving at night, so he had to withdraw from the siege of Zunyi and go north to Sichuan. During the siege of Zunyi, Shi Da ordered Prime Minister Li Fuyou to lead a partial army to attack Maotai, which was more than a hundred miles away from Zunyi. The Maotai defenders and militia resisted desperately. The Taiping troops fought for each house, and the battle was fierce. After this war, Maotai Ancient Town, which had developed to a certain scale in the Qing Dynasty and established considerable reputation and influence, was left with only a piece of rubble. The people were dispersed and all the houses and wineries were destroyed in the flames.

Perhaps, at the foot of a certain mountain or by a small river near Maotai, His Royal Highness Yi Wang, who is fond of poetry and wine, received a trophy rushed from Maotai - several jars of good wine. The wine was put in an earthen jar and sealed with dried pig urine. When it was opened, a strange aroma hit the nostrils. According to the local custom, the sergeants inserted a few straws into the mouth of the earthen pot, and then invited King Yi and the generals around him to have a drink together. This rare wine in the world gradually moistened the sensitive, lonely and noble heart of His Highness King Yi, and inspired his heroic spirit to strive for supremacy in the world. He just heard him shout softly: "Serve with pen and ink", and in a moment he wrote a drinking poem that shocked the past and the present. The poem says:

Ten thousand Dendrobium pearls are collected in one urn,

The king also bows his head here.

Gently hold Optimus Prime,

so that the long river water flows back.

After the Taiping Army led by Shi Dakai left Maotai, he wandered back and forth on the border between Sichuan and Guizhou. During this period, he entered and exited Renhuai seven times, and then walked step by step towards his fate - the Dadu River.

After the defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing court appointed Ding Baozhen, a famous minister who had made his fortune in suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, as the governor of Sichuan. Ding Baozhen is from Guizhou, and he knows that Guizhou does not produce salt, and all the salt that Guizhou people eat is imported from Sichuan. However, due to the lack of system, chaotic transportation and marketing, and extremely high prices, Guizhou people are short of salt or even have no salt. Most ordinary people eat light food, or "eat salt for the Chinese New Year". At the beginning of taking office, he sent his friend Tang Jiong from Zunyi, who later served as governor of Yunnan, to supervise the salt affairs and be responsible for rectifying the salt administration of Sichuan. Tang Jiong recommended another Zunyi person, Hua Lianhui, to assist. After meeting, Ding Baozhen also admired Hua Lianhui's talent and character, and the three hit it off.

It should be said that this salt policy rectification was very successful. First, Sichuan's salt tax revenue surged from more than 7,000 taels per year before the rectification to more than one million taels. And because of smooth transportation and sales channels, relatively stable systems and prices, the difficulty of eating salt among Guizhou people has also been alleviated to a considerable extent. Hua Lianhui, who had resolutely stepped out to assist Tang Jiong in rectifying the salt affairs, firmly grasped this opportunity and not only did the job well, but also won the trust of Renhuai, Zuanjiang, and Xu when Sichuan salt was shipped to Guizhou. Among the four major ports of Yong and Fuling, the partial monopoly rights of the two major ports of Renhuai and Xuyong were transformed from a small landowner in the countryside of Zunyi, who had passed the examination but had no official position, to become a The richest man in Guizhou. For many years to come, the proverb "Tang's top son, Hua's silver" was still circulated among the people of Guizhou to describe their large number. The Tang family in this proverb refers to the aforementioned Tang Jiong and his descendants who have been officials for generations. The so-called Hua family is the Hua family of business and industry founded by Hua Lianhui.

Among the two ports of Ren and Xu monopolized by Hualianhui, the most important is Ren'an, also known as Maotai Port. Due to the navigation convenience of the Chishui River, Maotai Port became the most important terminal for Sichuan salt sales to Guizhou. It was also crowded with people and merchants, and gradually recovered from the war disaster. Since Hua Lianhui was responsible for rectifying salt affairs and had a salt account in Maotai, he often traveled around the Chishui River. He is a person who is deeply nourished by Confucian culture and believes in benevolence, justice, propriety and filial piety. Even after he became very rich and glorious, every time he returned to his hometown, he would get off the sedan chair and change his clothes ten miles away from home, so that his followers could return to the city. I wear a green hat and a small hat, and then let the servants carry a load of gifts, a hat in summer, and an umbrella in rainy days, and walk home. This is of vital significance to the development of Moutai liquor and even the brewing industry in the Moutai region.

Once, when he returned home from Maotai, his family held a banquet to wash away the dust. During the dinner, Hua Lianhui's mother suddenly mentioned something. She said that before the "Changmao" Rebellion (that is, when the Taiping Army entered Guizhou), she had drunk a very delicious wine in Maotai. I wonder if this kind of wine will still be available after the chaos is over? It would be a pity if there is no more. Old Mrs. Hua didn't know that her nagging words had unintentionally put them on her son's heart. When Hua Lianhui returned to Maotai, he ordered his men to look for this "very delicious wine" to fulfill his mother's wish. Unexpectedly, this matter, which he thought was very simple, encountered unexpected difficulties. The reason is that after the war, the winery collapsed, the wine cellar was filled, and the winemaker died. Maotai's winemaking industry no longer exists except for a fragment of bricks and tiles.

Although Hua Lianhui failed to find the kind of fine wine his mother drank, in order to satisfy his mother's wish, he decided to rebuild a wine-making workshop. With his financial resources and abilities, this matter is not a big deal. A few months later, a new workshop was built on the ruins. At that time, there was no concept of a factory. Hua Lianhui pondered for a while and gave this new Hua family business a name, "Chengyi Shaofang". This happened in 1867, the sixth year of Tongzhi, only 5 years after the Taiping Army attacked Maotai, 138 years ago. This "Chengyi Burning House" was the earliest prototype of the later world-famous Moutai Distillery. Later, the world-famous Kweichow Moutai was born out of a mother’s leisure and a son’s filial piety.

When Hua Lianhui first built "Chengyi Shaofang", his salt business was booming, and money poured in like running water. Therefore, his original intention was that the wine produced in this burning house was not only for his own use at home, but also for giving as gifts to relatives and friends to meet some social needs in officialdom and shopping malls, and not for selling for money. The output is very low and there is no price. But contrary to expectations, as soon as this wine came out, it was welcomed by everyone. News that the Hua family had good wine spread like wildfire, and relatives, friends, colleagues, and peers came to ask for the wine in an endless stream, crossing the threshold. Hua Lianhui was very happy at first. He welcomed everyone who came and treated him generously.

Gradually, more and more people asked for wine, which became a burden and became an overwhelming annoyance. But he is a businessman after all, and his nature allowed him to quickly see the business opportunities hidden in it. After some thought, he decided to expand production, set a price, and officially launch the wine on the market. For Hualianhui, this decision not only relieved the suffering of human feelings, but also gained another benefit. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone. However, Hua Lianhui could not have imagined that the salt industry that he and his descendants worked so hard to develop and made them a generation of wealthy people would have ceased to exist with the progress of the times. The small tree he inadvertently cultivated, However, under the careful cultivation of later generations, it grew into a towering tree. This is really a deliberate act of planting flowers without blooming, but unintentionally planting willows to create shade. A flea was sown back then, but a dragon was harvested today. The old folks of Maotai did not expect that the "king spirit" that had been legendary for hundreds of years would finally rise in this altar of pure nectar and jade...

三

On October 10, 1911, the Revolution of 1911 broke out. On November 4 of the same year, under the leadership of the revolutionaries, Guizhou reversed course and established the Han Guizhou Military Government. One day in 1913, Hua Zhihong, the son of Hua Lianhui, who was the director of the Finance Department of the Guizhou Military Guard Government at the time, received an official document from Yuan Shikai's Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce of the Beiyang Government in his antique office.

This official document from the Beiyang government was caused by a major event in the world at that time. It turns out that in order to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the U.S. government held a "Panama International Exposition" in San Francisco. The excavated Grand Canal is 68 kilometers long, and it takes about 8 hours for ships to pass through. Before the construction of the Grand Canal, it took 60 days for a ship to travel from New York on the east coast of the United States to San Francisco on the west coast. Therefore, this Grand Canal was called the "Isthmus Lifeline" by Americans at that time. Once this "isthmus lifeline" becomes navigable, it will also generate more than $100 million in tax revenue and save more than $100 million in expenses for the U.S. government every year. This really made Americans happy, and holding an unprecedentedly grand expo was a manifestation of this good mood.

In early 1912, the U.S. Congress passed a proposal to hold an international exposition to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, and defined the purpose of this exposition as: exchanging human knowledge and promoting the progress of civilization. In March 1912, the Chinese government, which had just experienced the Revolution of 1911, received an invitation letter from U.S. President Taft to participate in the Exposition. Later, the U.S. government sent a special commissioner to China to "persuade Chinese officials and businessmen to attend the competition." The Beiyang government also established a "Panama Games Preparation Bureau" for this purpose, and sent a letter to all provinces, asking them to pay attention to this matter, send officials to carefully select exquisite and special artifacts produced locally, and then organize groups to participate in the exhibition. After receiving the official letter, Hua Zhihong decided to personally package Chengyi's Moutai and the Moutai produced by another Moutai restaurant, "Rong Taihe", in the name of "Moutai Liquor Making Company" and send them to the exhibition together. You can have a panoramic view of the scenery and people on the other side of the ocean.

There are about a thousand kinds of products from China participating in the Panama International Expo in San Francisco. After some collection, selection, and sorting work, all the exhibits of the Chinese exhibition group and the accompanying officials boarded the ship and embarked on the long journey to the other side of the ocean. At that time, the voyage from Tianjin Port to San Francisco took about two months. On the rolling Pacific Ocean, there are sometimes violent storms and sometimes sunny weather. The ports along the way are also beautiful and have different customs. Such a tempting and refreshing journey will definitely make Hua Zhihong, who is traveling with the exhibition group, have his thoughts racing. After all, at that time, there were too few Guizhou people who could see the sea.

This expo is known as the "Universal World". In fact, there are less than 50 participating countries, but more than 200,000 kinds of products are on display. The major events of the Chinese exhibitor group at this exposition are as follows: On February 20, 1915, the exposition officially opened; on March 9, 1915, the Chinese Government Pavilion officially opened; on March 25, US Vice President Martha represented the US President Wilson came to the pavilion to congratulate; in May, all exhibits were reviewed and selected; on September 23, former US President Roosevelt visited the Chinese Government Pavilion; on December 4, the Panama International Exposition closed. At the final stage of the expo, awards will be given to the exhibitors from various countries. After tasting by wine experts from various countries, Moutai was unanimously elected as a world-famous wine among many wines submitted for exhibition due to its excellent and unique quality and style, and won the gold medal. Together with French Cognac and British Scotch whiskey, it enjoys the reputation of being one of the three major distilled spirits in the world.

However, in the legend of Moutai, there is another exciting version of this San Francisco award-winning story. What I mean is that the expo is about to end, and the award-level evaluation of the products sent to the exhibition by various countries has also come to an end, especially the evaluation of famous wines from various countries has been basically completed. However, there is no news about the Kweichow Moutai liquor sent by China to the exhibition. This situation worried Hua Zhihong, who went to the United States with the delegation. He made many inquiries and finally found out that the reason for this was that there were hundreds of famous wines from various countries for the exhibition. These famous wines from various countries were all beautifully packaged and colorful, which attracted the attention of the judges as soon as they appeared. But the Moutai we sent to the exhibition was a black pottery bottle with a wooden stopper and a pig urine seal. The trademark was still made of clay, paper and stone. It was really inconspicuous. The judges felt that the packaging of Moutai was too rustic and crude, and they did not open the bottle to taste it. Hua Zhihong found out the situation and felt angry. In desperation, he took advantage of a group of Western wine tasting committee members to visit the China Pavilion, picked up a bottle of Moutai and threw it to the ground...

Hua Zhihong's original intention was nothing more than... Expressing anger at the unfairness of Western judges. But he never expected that this fall would be earth-shattering. The rich and fragrant aroma of wine immediately attracted the attention and admiration of many visitors. Of course, the fragrance spread like wildfire and got into the experienced noses of Western judges. The judges immediately stopped, they looked at each other, and invariably looked for the place where the fragrance came out... Of course, there is no need to say more about the story after this. Hua Zhihong introduced to the judges that Moutai is extremely unique and complex. His description of the brewing process must have shocked the judges. They regretted that they judged people based on their appearance. At the same time, they also admired the short Chinese in front of them for being so courageous. Finally, they agreed to bring Moutai back to the jury for review. The result of the re-evaluation was that all judges agreed that Moutai is the top liquor in the world and should deservedly win the gold medal in the liquor selection.

Four

After Moutai won the award, its reputation grew so much that there were many imitators. At that time, there were so-called "Jin Mao", "Ding Mao", "Lang Mao" and so on. Even in later Taiwan, there were many kinds of liquor named Moutai. After liberation, due to the favor and support of Maotai liquor by national leaders such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping, Moutai liquor was shrouded in a political halo, thus witnessing almost all political and National Congress events since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Such Maotai has gradually become a business card of the country and a symbol of the nation. Just as Westerners used to know China through porcelain, now when they mention Moutai, they all know that this is China.

In the 1970s, in order to implement Mao Zedong’s instruction to produce 10,000 tons of Moutai liquor, the Ministry of Light Industry also directly and indirectly presided over several large-scale off-site trials of Moutai distillery. However, the strange thing is that all these imitations of Moutai, even if the technology and raw materials are exactly the same, and even the winemakers are from Moutai distilleries, they cannot produce Moutai with the same quality and taste as Moutai. According to scientific analysis, this may be closely related to the soil, water, altitude, and atmospheric environment of Maotai Town. Therefore, except for the Moutai produced by the Moutai Distillery in Moutai Town, the "Moutai" produced in other places is not Moutai. This special phenomenon that Moutai liquor cannot be separated from its place of origin has become a kind of common sense among Chinese people. In recent years, the advertising slogan "National liquor Moutai, drink for health" has become increasingly familiar to Chinese people. Indeed, drinking Maotai liquor does not scratch the throat, does not hit the head, and does not damage the liver and kidneys. It is also recognized by more and more drinkers and has become a rule of thumb.

In this way, we can make an introductory summary of the cultural quality of Moutai liquor;

Winning glory for the country and being honest in national affairs are called loyalty. A son fulfills his mother's wishes and works diligently at home; this is called filial piety. Don't envy the prosperity, don't change the place; that's called integrity. It protects the body and keeps the body healthy, and does not harm the drinker; this is called meaning.

One summer in the 1970s, when I was a child, there was a heavy rain in the upper reaches of the Chishui River. Although the sun was shining brightly and the water was clear to the bottom, a section of the river valley in Maotai suddenly became full of water. The big fish and the small fish come down the river after being choked from upstream. All the Maotai people who came after hearing the news carried buckets, carried bamboo poles on their backs, and carried washbasins, and went down to the river to fish, pick up, laugh, and make noise... That day became a symbol in the later memories of the Maotai people. An unexpected holiday from God. At that time, my father was standing on the high ground on the shore, his eyes full of peace and wisdom. He took a string of small fish from my hand and murmured: "Heaven and earth love you so much, you will be blessed in the future."

Perhaps, this can be another interpretation of Moutai and Moutai liquor.