Modern Chinese history in red and white
Moutai Town in Southwest China's Guizhou province springs to view after about four hours of bus ride from capital Guiyang. The town by night is a work of colorful lights, and by daylight, it is veiled in mist on most winter mornings. I recommend the road trip through the lush countryside, though nearby Renhuai city will likely open an airport soon.
On a recent visit to the facilities of Kweichow Moutai Group, the country's biggest maker of bai jiu (white liquor) with a market capitalization of more than 260 billion yuan, I read words of praise for Moutai, the drink, from foreign politicians, diplomats and Chinese poets in the public company's many in-house journals.
That Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, founding fathers of the People's Republic of China, helped nurture the brand to its present-day popularity are among well-know stories in the media.