Maotai and Fenjiu are old enemies. You and I have been fighting for various titles for many years. From the current point of view, the price and stock price of Moutai Feitian have firmly placed Moutai at the top of the domestic liquor industry.
However, in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Fenjiu has always been the leader in the liquor industry. It was not until later that Maotai became a screenwriter, told some stories and combined with its powerful marketing, squeezed out Fenjiu's status as the leader.
The first "fight" between Maotai and Fenjiu was before the founding of the People's Republic of China. They even fought in front of Chiang Kai-shek . Both families claimed that they had won the gold medal at the World Expo, so they went to the chairman of the committee to ask for an explanation. It is said that It was Fenjiu who also said: When I was making wine, you didn’t know where to climb the tree... In the end, the chairman saw the quarrel between the two sides, so he had to say: Everyone is good, everyone is good, don’t argue... Hey Why did you take advantage of it... If Niang Xipi disobeys me, I'm going to beat her up. This award is indeed real. We will talk about who won it later. As for whether it was awarded to Chiang Kai-shek, it is just a rumor.
When it comes to historical heritage, Moutai is really inferior to Fenjiu.
The earliest record of Fenjiu is from the Northern Qi Dynasty, less than 1500 years ago.
"Book of Northern Qi" records that Emperor Wucheng Gao Zhan wrote a letter recommending Fenjiu to his nephew Wang Xiaoyu of Kangshu, Henan from Jinyang (today's Nanxiao, Taiyuan City), saying: "I drink Fenqing (the earliest version of Fenjiu) Now Fenjiu is still called Fenqing) Two cups, I advise you to drink two cups in Ye."
But there were differences between Fenjiu at that time and Fenjiu now. The wine at that time was considered yellow wine, and it was very different from Fenjiu today. Although the production process was different, there was indeed a Fenjiu brand and brewing workshop at that time. At that time, Guizhou really only had chiefs but no political power. The most they could do was drink some chewing wine and fruit wine.
Moutai is very bold and forward-thinking in tracing its history. Moutai believes that their wine originated from the "Ju sauce wine" of the ancient Yelang country in Guizhou during the Warring States Period. In fact, it is a self-identified ancestor. The current Moutai has no connection at all with the wine of Yelang Ancient Country. Because it is written very clearly in the Han Dynasty:
"The wolfberry tree is like a mulberry, its buds are two or three inches long (male stamens), and taste juicy. Take the actual (female plant's flower-gathering fruit) and think it is a sauce, which is beautiful. People in Shu think it is a delicacy."
Maotai’s self-identification of its ancestors is as unreasonable as Shandong University’s belief in Confucius’s private school during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods as the source of its founding. No roots, no destiny, no inheritance.
In fact, the real history of Moutai can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty at most. The mountain people's uprising before that completely destroyed the local area. In addition, the officers and soldiers came and shaved it again like a comb. The entire original site of Maotai was burned to ashes. It was not until the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty that a Shanxi salt merchant rebuilt a winery on the original site to make wine in order to honor his old mother who loved drinking. This was the true origin of Moutai. According to the record in "Guizhou Economy" in 1939: "Before the Xianfeng period of the Manchu Dynasty, a Shanxi salt merchant came to Maotai and imitated the Fenjiu production method, using wheat as the koji medicine and sorghum as the raw material to brew a kind of shochu. Later, The Shaanxi salt merchant Song and Mao improved the production method successively and took the name of Moutai and called it Moutai." This is the origin of Moutai.
Maotai’s current boss status is as stable as Mount Tai. Located in Maotai Town at 27° north latitude, he looks down upon all living beings and has no one to rival him. However, this does not at all wash away the fact that he started the evil trend of making up stories in the liquor market.
Panama Gold Medal
1915 was an important year for Chinese liquor. In that year, an International Expo was held in Panama, South America. In fact, an inconspicuous expo cannot be remembered by people, but later this expo was brought up by major domestic wineries, especially Moutai.
You must have heard the legendary story of a Moutai employee who smashed his jar angrily and won a grand prize. In fact, this story was made up, and Moutai only won a silver medal.Judging from the awards at that time, this award was equal to the fifth prize. However, Maotai was not discouraged because it was the fifth prize. Instead, after decades of continuous efforts, it exerted the spirit of adapting is random editing and changed the fifth prize. It became a gold medal. In fact, the real winner of the top prize was Fenjiu, a Class A gold medal. Zhili Gaoliang Liquor and Henan Gaoliang Liquor also won the award. It's a pity that the reputation of these two brands is not as good as before or even disappeared. Otherwise, after reading Moutai's script, I would be so angry that I fainted without drinking.
Other distilleries will certainly question Moutai's practice of wearing a gold medal hat on its head. Faced with the doubts, a person in charge of Moutai Distillery said: "We are all latecomers, and there are no certificates or medals anymore. The distillery I have tried every means to find it, but I have not found it."
's implication is that there is no evidence, but the prize is ours, and there is nothing you can do to me.
In 1954, Maotai liquor was still written as "the second most famous wine in the world at the Panama Fair", but in 1984, it became "won medals and certificates at the Panama International Exposition".
At this time, they are playing a marginal role, which is quite reasonable.
In 2003, the back label was officially upgraded to "Winner of the Gold Medal at the Panama International Exposition in 1915".
has to admit that Moutai is still powerful, and Panama’s ranking back then can continue to change with the changes of the times. Maotai is not only a screenwriter but also tampering with history.
Wine for State Banquet
With Panama’s confidence, Moutai suddenly became more confident.
I was so polite that I didn’t “get” Fenjiu’s first-class gold medal. I can’t be so kind anymore when it comes to the wine for the state banquet. I have to grab it!
It was the autumn of 1949, and the wind was so lingering. In an inconspicuous small village in Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, which had not yet been liberated, the severely degraded Maotai wine slowly flowed out of the pot. They fully demonstrated the Red Army's fearlessness in the expedition and the difficulties of thousands of rivers and mountains. With his indomitable spirit, he traveled through numerous enemy-occupied areas and delivered the crudely packaged Moutai to the Great Hall of the People .
This made Fenjiu present so envious that he wished he could clap his hands together!
asked me to say that the dishes for the Founding Ceremony were decided by Premier Zhou, but what was drunk at that time was decided by Moutai.
National Liquor Moutai
After compiling the wine for the state banquet, Moutai was not satisfied. They set their sights on the bigger world on the other side: the national liquor!
They deeply understand that once they have the talisman of "national wine", they will be able to dominate the world.
So on the road to compete for the national wine, Moutai fought repeatedly and never gave up. It took twice as long as the Anti-Japanese War. It was worthy of calling itself a red wine, and its perseverance was evident.
During this period, they were busy with big and small matters, and they had to take time to sue Fenjiu, Wuliangye, Jiannanchun...
The reason was that after the "National Liquor Moutai" passed the preliminary industrial and commercial review in 2012, Moutai was confident: "I said End, who is in favor and who is against?"
As a result, companies such as Wuliangye, Fenjiu, Jiannanchun, Langjiu, etc. stood up... These companies were ignorant and made trouble, causing "National Liquor Moutai" to be rejected by the industry and commerce again.
The bloated Maotai was so angry that it also sued the trademark judges who refused to give it the status of "national liquor". This was a bit confusing, and it almost sued the country. The outcome was obvious.
On June 29, 2019, Moutai offline "National Liquor Moutai" through all promotional channels, and " Kweichow Moutai " went online.
On August 17, 2019, Kweichow Moutai officially bid farewell to the "national liquor Moutai", batch 2019-001, and ushered in the "Kweichow Moutai" back label.
Before the national liquor brand was taken off, the "National Banquet", "Great Hall of the People" and other aged Maotai liquors were also stopped and renamed as fine products. The "National Banquet" Moutai came to an end.
Maotai Chairman Li Baofang also apologized in writing to Fenjiu and Li Qiuxi for the "national liquor" incident.
Although Maotai’s series of shady operations have been criticized, it has not affected his status, price and stock. On the contrary, it has been rising all the way.
Fenjiu, as the former leader, has really poor marketing to get to this point today, and was hit by the counterfeit wine case in 1998. Not to mention compared with Moutai, even Wuliangye, Jiannanchun, Luzhou Laojiao, etc. are still ahead of Fenjiu.
Some people say that Moutai is like a nouveau riche, rich in wealth and high in price, but in fact it has little cultural heritage. Fenjiu is just the opposite, with historical heritage and cultural atmosphere and affordable prices. I think this statement is not unreasonable. Maotai was eventually deprived of the title of national liquor, while Fenjiu remained the “soul of Chinese liquor”.
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Which domestic liquor do you think is better? See you in the comments section.
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