“One Township, one Product” Local Characteristics Cultural and Creative Liquor

Challenges and Objectives

Wuning is located in the northwest of Jiangxi Province, in the middle of the Xiu River, on the border of Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces, with the jurisdiction of 18 towns. Wuning has a total population of more than 400,000 people and a land area of 3507 square kilometers, making it the fourth largest county in Jiangxi Province. The mountain-back people who live here have a tradition of making a kind of wine in almost every household - The Shanbei red sorghum liquor. Shanbei red sorghum liquor has a long brewing history and rich culture. The earliest can be traced back to the third year of Tang Jianzhong (782), more than 1200 years ago. Although the brewing process has evolved over a thousand years, it still maintains the essence of the original secret recipe and traditional brewing technology.

However, due to the simple facilities, substandard hygiene, and irregular processes of local households, the heavy metal lead in the wine seriously exceeds the standard, and the middle-aged and elderly people who drink it for a long time generally have headaches and dizziness, nausea and dry vomiting, hand spasms, eye congestion, other symptoms, which adversely affect the health and safety of local residents. In order to reverse the unhealthy drinking habits of the local residents and to provide the Shanbogu wine that not only retains the characteristics of Chuante and meets the long-established local drinking tastes but also meets the quality standards, the local youths, who had worked for many years in the cities outside of this county, decided to return to their hometowns to create a brand of the local wine under the inspiration of the national strategy of revitalization of the countryside. \

After long-term research and unremitting efforts, the three founders gave full play to the traditional advantages of ShanBei Shochu and local resources, inherited the original brewing techniques and recipes, integrated the resources of Shanbei Shochu, which had already formed the benefits of the local reputation, and introduced the advanced production lines, and by vigorously promoting the standardization, scaling up, and standardization, Shanbigu Shochu passed the inspection of the professional institutions for the first time in history and became the only one that presented It is the only "rice-flavored" high liquor in China with a reddish-red color, and solved the problems of excessive lead, taste standardization, impurities, "brain-beating", packaging and cultural attributes that had long been troubling the local people. Shanbigu liquor finally became a local special cultural liquor product that "middle-aged and old people love to drink, young people like, and passengers are willing to buy".

Collaboration Partners and Roles

Jiangxi Luxidong Wine Co., Ltd., founded by three local people, is the main investor, promoter, and coordinator of this project. Luxidong Wine company invested in standardized factories and is responsible for the production and improvement of main products, as well as market development and brand building. It coordinated the efforts of Wuning Rural Revitalization Bureau, Guanlian Township Government, and Wuning College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Association, which provide policy support, exhibition and sales platform and opportunities, preferential express logistics services for major customers, and Baoyuan Village Committee and local villagers, which provide plant leasing, winemakers, laborers, raw material suppliers, and consumers, Returning investor, who provide financial support, management and operation, project planning.

Revitalisation Activities

This program was started in 2020, the first year of Covid-19. It invested in the construction of standardized plants, the introduction of advanced production lines, and the implementation of standardized, large-scale, standardized production to solve the long-standing problems of lead overload, taste standardization, impurities, "brain-beating", packaging, and ultimately passed the inspection of professional organizations, which is the first time that ShanBeiGu Shochu has passed the quality inspection for a long time.

It integrated the existing local supply chain advantages and local word-of-mouth benefits of the Shanbei shochu industry resources and locally sourced materials to save costs, while it recruited local brewmasters and workers, not only inherited the original brewing process and recipes to retain the taste that locals have been accustomed to for a long time, but also to promote employment, increase to planting, leasing, labor compensation and other diversified income.

The company team, through the branding and marketing construction, changed people's understanding of the inherent low-end inferior brand of Shanbei wine, and through the Shanbei wine characteristics of cultural creation, brand planning, self-media marketing, and through the e-commerce live platform and the traditional channels of retail and wholesale, Shanbei shocu was built into market potential, regional characteristics of the distinctive, high-value-added local specialty products.

Revitalisation Outcome

Solving the problem of excessive lead that has long plagued local people has avoided symptoms caused by heavy metal poisoning, like headache and dizziness, nausea and dry vomiting, hand spasms, eye congestion, etc. It provides local people with a source of drinking of acceptable quality and improves the health of residents.

Since Wuning launched the all-region tourism, tourists from all over the world have been increasing. On the other hand, there are also many Wuning locals working and settling in other places. Visitors and Wuning locals find that there is no decent, distinctly local specialty to bring to relatives, friends, and customers outside the county. Through branding and marketing, this project changes people's understanding of the inherent low-end and inferior brand of Shanbei shochu and builds a representative product with obvious local characteristics and high added value.

Rural revitalization is, first and foremost, the revitalization of industries. In 2020, the three founders responded to the call of returning to their hometowns to invest and start businesses in their hometowns to promote villagers' employment and increase their income, increasing the employment opportunities for local residents at their doorsteps and bringing diversified income channels such as leasing, planting, and labor remuneration. So that they can support their families at the door without the background of leaving their hometown to work as hard labor, long-term separation from their families, and bear the bottom pressure of urban education, health care, and life.



This is the abridged version of a case prepared by AIRI Fellow Lu Wei. For further information, please email Tsinghua University’s China Institute for Rural Studies at cirs@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.

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