When it comes to "Chinese National Liquor", many people's first reaction is "Moutai". It can be seen that Moutai, which has been used by the name of national liquor for many years, has its brand positioning has been deeply rooted in people's hearts. However, in 1949, at the first

When it comes to "China's national liquor", many people's first reaction is "Moutai". It can be seen that Moutai, which has been used as the name of national liquor for many years, has its brand positioning has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

However, in 1949, The liquor used at the first banquet after the founding of New China was Shanxi Fenjiu , not Maotai liquor .

So, what is the recipe for "the first banquet in the founding of the country" in New China? Why not choose Moutai for state banquets?

State banquet cuisine "Huaiyang Cuisine"

1949, the clarion call of the War of Liberation sounded the whole country. With the unremitting efforts of the People's Liberation Army, all parts of the country were liberated one after another.

Years of struggle are finally over, the whole country is celebrating, and the opening banquet is also put on the agenda.

Beijing Hotel was called "Far East only luxury hotel " at that time, and stood firmly in the battlefield full of gunpowder.

After multiple inspections, the central government finally decided to choose the Beijing Hotel, a restaurant that can accommodate 600 people at the same time, as the place to hold the " State Opening Banquet ".

After the banquet location is determined, you need to determine the menu and chef of the banquet.

At that time, considering that there were many visitors and different tastes in the state banquet, Premier Zhou personally selected the state banquet dishes: Huaiyang cuisine .

1

101 Because Huaiyang cuisine has a moderate taste, its taste is more focused on "freshness", and pursues the original flavor. There are many types of dishes, suitable for both north and south.

secondly because Huaiyang cuisine is the hometown dish of Premier Zhou. It has a long historical heritage. Famous chefs who have become famous for Huaiyang cuisine are everywhere at home and abroad.

That's it, the state banquet dishes have been confirmed, but the chefs who are suitable for state banquet dishes must also screen them carefully.

Yu Xinqing, director of the ceremonial bureau of the Government Council, likes to taste delicious food very much. He is not only familiar with the food characteristics of Beijing, but also is very familiar with the famous chefs hidden in the streets and alleys.

Speaking of Huaiyang cuisine, the Huaiyang restaurant that Yu Xinqing remembers the most is " Yuhuatai ".

At that time, in order to show his respect, Yu Xinqing visited him in person. With the consent of several famous chefs from "Yuhuatai", Zhu Dianrong, Yang Qirong and others, they were transferred to the Beijing Hotel.

. When Beijing Hotel heard the news of the first banquet in the founding of the country, it was also shocked, but all the staff quickly calmed down and followed the arrangements and began to carry out the tasks assigned to them in an orderly manner.

Since the Beijing Hotel was a French-style restaurant before, the kitchen that can cook Chinese food was smaller. In order not to delay the production of Huaiyang cuisine, Yu Xinqing temporarily built a kitchen and specially invited tiles to build a stove and prepared a few large iron pots.

On October 1, after the founding ceremony was held, the lights were on, and more than 600 people including leaders of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, well-known people from all walks of life came to the Beijing Hotel one after another.

When everyone sat down, there was laughter and joy coming from banquet hall , and everyone had a festive smile on their faces.

Premier Zhou and Commander-in-Chief Zhu De both delivered speeches respectively, which was to celebrate the birth of New China and encourage young soldiers to continue to struggle.

The people present heard the words of encouragement and all toasted and cheered. The atmosphere at the venue was immediately pushed to a climax. The guests were all happy while raising glasses and chopsticks.

Because Huaiyang cuisine has many categories, it is also very difficult to choose.

Time has passed, but some people who have participated in the first banquet in the founding country still remember the state banquet dishes. According to their memories, state banquet dishes include:

braised shark fin, braised prawns, braised lion head and other 8 hot dishes, five-spice fish, stir-fried cucumber and other 4 cold dishes, swallow soup, and four salty and sweet snacks.

In fact, from the current dietary level, the state banquet dishes at that time were the home banquet dishes for ordinary people. Most of them could be eaten in special Huaiyang restaurants.

The reason why I choose dishes and types in this way is because the central leaders’ requirements for state banquets: State banquets should focus on "politics" and "culture"; and abandon "popularity" and "delicious" .

Moutai missed the state banquet

These plain-looking ingredients, under the chefs' superb cooking skills, as the ingredients are added to the pot, the fragrance quickly spreads out.

When the staff brought the prepared dishes to the table, after tasting several people at the banquet, they all praised it. The taste of the big restaurant is great, better than the small stove they own.

, and other democrats who have tasted many delicious dishes also praised the Huaiyang cuisine made by these chefs.

Although the recipes this time were very ordinary banquet dishes, Chairman Mao thought it was not ordinary and he criticized the banquet.

Chairman Mao believes that eating less at the banquet, throwing away more, wasting food, basically all bird's nest shark fin is not affordable, and some Chinese people like to eat does not meet the tastes of foreigners. The specifications of ", four dishes, one soup " are enough.

At the same time, Premier Zhou also called for the "concierge revolution". Etiquette activities should be simple, cancel the toast links at banquets, and further stipulate the banquet standards.

After this, because several leaders instructed at the same time, the specifications of hot dishes for the state banquet have gradually dropped. To this day, the standard of "four dishes and one soup" is still being used.

China has been a country of etiquette since ancient times, and the way of etiquette runs through all aspects of life. Since the recipe for entertaining guests has been confirmed, then such a national banquet that celebrates the whole country will definitely be indispensable for the "state banquet wine".

As the saying goes, " uses wine as a gift, and uses wine to help ". In such a state banquet with more than 600 guests, the selected state banquet wine must not be ordinary wine. Three conditions must be met: first is wine ; second is convenient for transportation; third is to ensure sufficient supply.

According to many information and memories of the staff who attended the state banquet preparation, three types of wine were used in the state banquet wine at that time: Shanxi Fenjiu, Zhuyeqingjiu and Shaoxing rice wine.

Then many people wonder why Moutai, which has been promoting "national wine", has not appeared in the "state banquet"?

In fact, there has always been great controversy about whether Moutai liquor was used on the "First Banquet of the Country".

Some articles said that Moutai was used as a "founding wedding banquet" at that time; some articles said that Premier Zhou personally called " Laimao " to entertain Chinese and foreign guests at the banquet, which made Moutai the beginning of national liquor.

But in terms of time, Moutai was impossible to appear in the state banquet at that time. There were two reasons:

11 was in October 1949. Guizhou, which produced Moutai, was not liberated and was still in the area controlled by the Kuomintang.

With the joint efforts of the People's Liberation Army and people from all sides, it was not until the end of December 1949 that all 79 counties in Guizhou Province were liberated, and the "first banquet for founding" of New China had already ended at this time.

Second, Moutai liquor has been prosperous for more than a hundred years. At that time, only three wineries supported the brewing of Moutai liquor.

These small wineries are "Chengyi Wine House", "Ronghe Wine House" and "Hengxing Wine House". The wine brewed cannot be successfully transported to Peking due to the influence of the war.

And from the promotional video of "Centenary Moutai", we can find that there were three places where Moutai was sold before 1949, namely Chongqing, Guiyang and Hong Kong.

It was not until 1951 that after the merger of the above three private wineries in New China and implemented a series of measures, the state-owned Moutai winery was officially established.

Compared with Guizhou, which was completely liberated after the founding of New China, Shanxi, which produces Fenjiu , was liberated before the "state banquet" was held, and Fenjiu factories in the region have also resumed operations one after another.

In June 1949, the government merged some of the previous famous winemaking workshops and established the "state-owned Shanxi Xinghua Village Fen Wine Factory".

In this way, Fenjiu can fully meet the three conditions for state banquets, but Moutai missed the "first banquet for founding the country" because it is in the area controlled by the Kuomintang.

Moutai is good? Or is Fenjiu better?

Although many people nowadays, when they mention national liquor, they all appear in their impressions: " national liquor Moutai ", this title has not been officially recognized by China, and the country has not made clear regulations on my country's national liquor.

But it can be seen that the promotion of Maotai liquor under the name of national liquor has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

like "Taste the national wine Moutai, recognize the Panyu monopoly", "Authentic national wine Moutai, honest Panyu monopoly" and so on are all promotional slogans that Moutai has used.

Moreover, since 2001, Moutai has applied for the "national liquor" trademark nine times and has been rejected, but it still uses this name to promote it. Even some branches in some places have named national liquor.

It was not until 2019 that Moutai Group officially announced the suspension of the "National Liquor Moutai" trademark and changed its name to " Kweichow Moutai ". Although

has been rejected many times, Moutai Group still did not give up. In 2019, it changed its method and started applying for the "state banquet" trademark, but it was still rejected.

It is precisely because Moutai has applied for trademarks related to "national liquor" for nearly 20 years, and Moutai has done a very good job in quality and marketing, so Moutai has gradually become the "national liquor" in the eyes of most people.

plus some misleading of promotional articles, so there will be controversy over whether to use Moutai or Fenjiu in the "first banquet of the founding of the country".

In fact, Moutai and Fenjiu are both famous wines in my country. Both wines have a long historical heritage in history, witnessing the long-term development of the Chinese nation.

However, due to many factors, Fenjiu used more before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China. As early as when Yan'an and Xibaipo , Fenjiu was used to entertain foreign guests.

At the 62nd anniversary of the founding of New China, Fenjiu had already achieved brilliant development. Its winemaking technology was not only included in the World Intangible Cultural Heritage List, but also became the only famous Chinese wine collected by China National Museum .

and Fenjiu Group also held a conference to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of Fenjiu becoming the first state banquet for wine in the Republic. At the meeting, historical experts Ji Lianhai and others used real information to describe the use of Fenjiu at state banquets before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Later, when the Changchun Film Production Factory filmed the large-scale documentary special "State Banquet", it also used the instructions for the preparation and recording of the state banquets and the diaries and recordings of some people who participated in the state banquets to prove Fenjiu.

It is reported that Fenjiu Group once held a charity auction, and the 20 bottles of Guocang Fenjiu produced a famous wine auction record of a total price of 30.76 million yuan. Fenjiu Group then included the proceeds from the auction in the Fenjiu Charity Foundation.