Zhang Hao

Zhang Hao, “Renowned Spirits,” watercolor and pencil on paper, 15.5cm x 17.5, 2012

I will start from my childhood memories, during this time when for every traditional Chinese holiday, my family used to gather together. My grandfather was fond of drinking baijiu, so every holiday would get kicked off with a bottle famous brand of baijiu.

From a small age, I was already familiar with the various different kinds of baijiu—Maotai, Wuliangye, Fenjiu, Xifengjiu, Dongjiu, Yanghedaqu, Luzhou Laojiao, and so on.

At that time people already started making fake baijiu, but most were doing it by hand in small workshops, and their manufacturing process was far less advanced than that of today’s counterfeiters. They didn’t have the ability to produce the bottles of famous brands, so they bought the empty bottles off people once the alcohol was consumed. They filled these bottles with inferior baijiu and sold them as famous brands.

My grandfather didn’t allow anyone in our family members collect empty wine bottles since he was afraid that we couldn’t refuse the tempting prices offered by the fake baijiu producers. I still remember the time when he angrily smashed a crate of empty bottles to pieces in front of the fake alcohol dealer who attempted to buy them from us at a high price.

Baijiu is a part of Chinese life, and in the 80s, it added joy for Chinese table when having meal together. However today it has become a sign of social corruption. Clearly it is not white wine’s fault to cause these great changes. These famous white wines have not changed, and they still continued the traditional brewing process, maintaining consistent quality. What really changed is our times and society. What these changes make us lost are not only good memories of the past, and more is the collapse of the nation’s moral.

Baijiu is part of life in China. In the 80s it brought joy to our family gatherings, but today it has become an index of corruption. However we cannot blame Baijiu for these changes. These famous brands have not changed, rather they have continued with their traditional methods of distilling, and have maintained consistent quality. What has changed is our society. This is how times have changed, and we’ve lost not only the beautiful memories, but rather the moral character of our people.