Introduction
In this chapter, we will discuss Moutai from the perspective of commoditization . In the process of Maotai's commoditization , the author only explained the Maotai liquor produced by the Maotai Group, which became a state-owned enterprise after the People's Republic of China, and explained and discussed it from three levels: local, national and global in Guizhou. As the explanation basis for the commoditization of Maotai culture in the following chapters.In this chapter, the author will divide the discussion into four subsections. The first subsection explains the commoditization process of Moutai in Guizhou Province; the second subsection explains the commoditization process of Maotai under the new China; the third subsection discusses the global marketing of Moutai; the fourth subsection discusses the art of Moutai brand packaging from an artistic point of view value.
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Part1.The commoditization Process of Moutai in Guizhou Province 1.1 Important Nodes for Moutai Market Expansion
Affected by the war, in 1938, the southwest region became the rear area, and the Nationalist government moved to Chongqing and became the companion capital.
Subsequently, the National Government planned to organize important factories and mining industries to move into Guizhou to continue production. During this period, Zhejiang University, Jiaotong University, Daxia University, Xiangya Medical College and several schools moved into Guizhou. At the same time, Guizhou University was also established locally in Guizhou. , Guiyang Teachers College and many vocational schools have successively established Guizhou Agricultural Improvement Institute, Guizhou Geological Survey Group, Guizhou Enterprise Company and Agricultural Experimental Zone, Educational Experimental Zone, etc. A large number of government officials and intellectuals poured into the southwest.According to statistics, in 1930, the population of Guiyang was 120,000, and in 1942 it increased to about 350,000. Among them, there are more than 100,000 civil servants and their families.(Hu,2011,p.43)
The proportion of inward migration of intellectuals is the largest, with more than nine-tenths of high-level intellectuals moving westward; more than five-tenths of middle-level intellectuals moving westward; and more than three-tenths of low-level intellectuals moving westward.Most of these new immigrants come from the southeast coast. Although they are refugees, they are not farmers. They have both taste and funds.Moreover, civil servants and intellectuals are important indicators to consider alcohol consumption, because they are in the middle and upper classes of society, and their daily income is closely related to the economic and financial status of the rear.At the same time, they are also the main groups of drinking in banquets and entertainment, which can better reflect the threshold of famous liquor consumption and play a decisive role in the consumer goods market. They have changed the consumer structure of Moutai, and brought market opportunities for Moutai to commoditization and marketization.
At the same time, the consumption pattern of famous wines in China has undergone tremendous changes, and the reduction of Shaoxing wine and the growth of
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Moutai are the most representative. As mentioned in the previous chapter, rice wine represented by Shaoxing wine occupies an advantageous position in China's alcohol consumption, and its sales range is very wide, covering Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Beiping. After the establishment of the Nanjing National Government, people from Zhejiang entered the political arena and occupied a core position in the political and business circles.In the diplomatic activities and daily receptions of the high-level military and political leaders of the Nanjing government, two kinds of Zhejiang famous Shaoxing wine and foreign wine are commonly used. Until the outbreak of the war in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, local wineries in Shaoxing were hit and the wine industry stopped production. For a time, most of the Shaoxing wine sold to all parts of the inland was backlogged in Shanghai, and it was difficult to transport and sell it to the rear.
With the expansion of the war, not only the common Shaoxing wine in Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas could not be transported to the rear of the southwest due to traffic blockage, but also the import of foreign wine was difficult due to the obstacles of international trade.In July 1939, the Ministry of Finance of the National Government promulgated the "Measures for Prohibiting Imports of Items in Exceptional Periods",
"champagne, red and white grape juice wine", "brandy" and other foreign wines are all on the list of prohibited imports. So in such an era Under the background, the liquor in the southwest region has gained a large market space, and the output has grown rapidly.In 1944, Sichuan liquor production reached 125,000 tons, an increase of 63.39%
over 1938, reaching the peak of liquor production during the Republic of China. The increase in the consumption of liquor during the war brought opportunities for the luxury Moutai liquor among the liquors. In the context of the expansion of the liquor consumption market and the prohibition of external luxury consumption, Moutai has become one of the few expensive and famous products for the upper-class people in the rear.
The price of Moutai has been more expensive than ordinary liquor since its inception, and people who are not above the middle class cannot afford it. The price of Maotai during the war was also much higher than that of other liquors.On October 1, 1940, in the public sale price of alcohol by the Chuankang Taxation Bureau, other Daqu liquors were 0.165 yuan per catty, and Maotai liquor was as high as 2.4 yuan per catty,
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a difference of nearly 15 times. Therefore, for the rear area, although a large number of people have moved inwards to bring about a demand for drinking, ordinary civilians do not have the ability to consume Moutai.Take Chongqing in 1941, for example. On September 1, Ronghe Distillery maotai sold for 200 yuan per bottle in Chongqing.
Thus, it can be seen that only the middle and upper class Catholic groups have the ability to consume Maotai liquor, but for them, it is quite luxurious only on salary.But tasting Moutai has become one of the experiences of civil servants and intellectuals who have moved to the rear and come into contact with local life for the first time. As mentioned above, Moutai is expensive, and literati often use Moutai as a gift to each other, and some people are reluctant to use the gift and give it away. The era of odd shortage can just reflect the preciousness of Maotai and its popularity in the literati circle.
Of course, Moutai can open up its popularity and sales channels, and it has an important relationship with its operator's social network. The Hua family, the operator of Chengyi brewing workshop, is also the founder of Wentong Bookstore.In 1934, Huawenqu took over the Huajia property. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Huawenqu used the resources of the relocated universities to find influential professors in the academic world, established an editorial office, and expanded its publishing business. In addition, an editorial committee of up to 112 members was also organized.
After 1940, the business of Wentong Bookstore developed rapidly, and branches were set up in Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming and other places, covering almost the entire rear. At the same time, Wentong Bookstore has also become a distribution point for Chengyi Maotai. The development of the sales market also enabled Chengyi Maotai to develop its independent brand. In 1940, Huawenqu entrusted the Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance to apply for the trademark of Moutai. The establishment of the Chengyi Moutai brand and the position of Huashi Wentong Bookstore among the literati in the back have strengthened the consumer group's cognition of a specific Moutai brand.(Guo,2022,)
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the introduction of Sichuan salt into Guizhou provided geographical conditions for the winemaking industry in Moutai Town; in the early years of the Republic of China, Moutai liquor operators represented
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by the Hua family were deeply involved in local finance, which promoted Moutai liquor to enter the high-level social circle of military and political in Guizhou. At this stage, Moutai, as the representative of wine selected by the "Guizhou Office" in the Panama Expo, was given the logo of local specialty. Zhou Xicheng's "special purchase" for Moutai made "Moutai gain a market far larger than that of Moutai Town". These make Moutai have the brand foundation of "famous product" and "gift" before the 1930s.
1.2The consumption pattern of Moutai under the new China
On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was established. The southwest region became the last battlefield. At this time, in Maotai Town, the three roasting workshops have been out of production for more than a year. It was not until 1951 that the national government merged Chengyi brewing Workshop, Ronghe brewing Workshop and Hengxing brewing Workshop in Maotai Town, and formally established the "Kweichow Provincial Monopoly Company Renhuai Moutai Distillery (referred to as the State-owned Moutai Distillery), and continued to inherit The ancient craftsmanship of Maotai.
On the basis of maintaining the traditional process of "high temperature koji making, two feedings, nine cooking, eight fermentation, seven wine extraction, long- term storage, and careful blending", the Moutai Distillery has gradually expanded its scale and formulated a winemaking process. Physical and chemical indicators with liquor. But at the beginning of the establishment of the factory, the production conditions were very difficult, with 5 wine stoves, 41 wine cellars, 5 retorts, 11 stone mills, 35 mules and horses, no laboratory, no mechanical equipment, no electricity, and no running water. Even the factory building is made of waste wine bottles pasted with yellow mud to build the walls, and the roof is covered with fir bark and linoleum. Most of the winery workers are half-workers and half-farmers. They often run around the factory and the fields, barefoot and straw sandals for many years. At that time, there was no production water supply system. In the cold winter, workers still had to go down the river to fetch water to bake wine, and their feet were often frostbitten and cracked.
There was also no ventilation equipment. Tossing and smashing in the steaming lees, and adding coal to the fire in front of the stove.
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Figure 43 In February 1953, Zhang Xingzhong,
the director of Kweichow Moutai Distillery, announced his acceptance of Hengxing Roasting Workshop.The three old burning workshops in Moutai Town was merged into the state-owned Moutai Distillery.marks that the the Moutai brewing industry has
also entered the industrial era from the traditional farming era, and Moutai has also begun to enter the commercialization.
Source：Moutai Collection,2018,p.1868
In order to support the production and development of the distillery as soon as possible, the state has invested more than one million yuan for many years in repairing the factory building, purchasing the necessary production equipment and raw materials, and expanding the liquor and starter-making workshops, grain depots, wine depots and laboratories. By 1961, the whole factory had successively completed the reconstruction and expansion projects of various types of houses covering 40,000 square meters, including 287 liquor cellars, 54 wine retorts, 1 distillery, and 1 altar factory. The housing area and production scale have been significantly expanded.In 1952, with the support of the state, the Moutai Distillery began to put into production. With the highest priority of raw materials and capital guarantees, the production of state-owned Moutai exceeded the highest output in history in the first year.
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However, at the end of the year, the Moutai Distillery also stocked more than 90,000 catties of liquor, which was considered "slow-selling" in the context of the era when Moutai had no concept of aging at that time. The problem with Moutai sales is a lack of awareness of the luxury market. With the political changes, the market consumption situation has undergone tremendous changes. On the one hand, the purchasing power of the people is low. In 1950, the national per capita national income was only 77 yuan. The new official group is still implementing the rationing system, and personal purchasing power has not yet been formed; the new regime advocates economy, and the level of official consumption is very low. However, the Maotai self- operated sales network and business partners of the two capitalists Hua and Lai have perished and ceased to exist. Therefore, before 1954, except for direct purchase by higher-level units, Moutai Distillery did not know who to sell to.(Hu,2011,p.70)
However, the Monopoly Bureau did not realize this and believed that the reason for the "sluggish sales" was that the cost was too high. In 1952, in a hurry to sell the product, the Monopoly Bureau asked the winery to reduce the cost. Until the first quarter of 1954, some foreign monopoly companies sent letters to Guizhou Province monopoly companies, requesting to reduce the order quantity. The reason is that there are some problems with the packaging and quality of Moutai, and the market has not responded well.
"In a place called Wachanggou in Zhongyuan Village, Canglong Street, Renhuai City, this place had liquormaking very early in history. when I was four years old,My father, in partnership with several local farmers, started a distillery. There are many people coming and going in the distillery. It was only after many years that I realized that those years were the glorious years of "Renhua Biquanjiao distillery".Later, my father's business failed, and“ Biquanjiao” distillery stopped production. The father, who is over fifty years old, resumes his old business and continues to bake liquor at home.
What is being baked is not the “Daqu（starter for making hard liquor）sauce-flavored”
liquor from “Biquanjiao” distillery , but the “Xiaoqu-fragrance” liquor made from corn.This corn liquor has no "brand". In Xiaolan Village, there are several villager groups such as Wachanggou, Tiankanshang, and Wotai, hundreds of families, and every family grows their own corn and bakes their own corn liquor. This liquor was not only
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sold to the county center, but also to Maotai Town. It is said that a day the sales range from 3,000 catties to as many as 10,000 catties. I was in middle school by then. The loose liquor on the counter of the adjacent township department store is almost all corn liquor from Xiaolan Village. I heard that everyone from the director and section chief to the village chief and factory director drinks this liquor .”(Zhou,2009,p.8-11)
"In the past, the traffic on our side was not good, and most local people did not approve the sauce-flavored Moutai liquor and could not afford to consume it. Because Moutai liquor was not cheap at that time, most of the national or provincial leaders would drink Moutai. For wine, we locals all drink the local Moutai town loose liquor, because it is more cost-effective. When I was young, my father was reluctant to work in the Moutai distillery because the wages were very low. But it is better than farming, so there are many locals People are making wine in wineries, and Moutai has always been brewing, but at that time, many local people didn’t know who this liquor was sold to. In recent years, after Moutai went out, our local economy has improved. Now, if you want to work in the Moutai distillery, you must rely on diplomas and exams to get in.” (Interview,Zhao Cai, sales of Guotai liquor Industry, a local in Maotai Town, 2021) From Mr. Zhou Shanrong's remarks, we can know that among the drinking choices of local people in Renhuai earlier, Maotai was not the mainstream, but corn wine brewed by small workshops. At this point, Ms. Zhao Cai also mentioned that most local people do not accept Maotai-flavored Moutai. Most of the reasons are also because the consumption of Maotai-flavored liquor is high and the price is high. Most people cannot afford it, and the consumer group is limited. Because of niche consumption, there are not many local people who have tasted and recognized sauce-flavored wine. This may be one of the reasons why Zhou Shanrong's father's early roasted Daqu sauce-flavored wine went bankrupt. Ms. Zhao Cai also mentioned that the early Moutai Distillery was not very profitable, the wages of employees were low, and most locals were reluctant to work in the Moutai Distillery. It can be seen that although Moutai has a new identity and nationalization under the new China, it has The nature of its luxury goods made it a niche consumer group and limited sales channels in the early stage of nationalization.
"Maotai Town has been very barren in history, resulting in very poor farming conditions. The traditional agricultural society has moved forward for a hundred years,
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and the export of mountain goods here is very limited. With super income-generating ability. From the first-hand literature records I have seen now, in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the liquor brewed by our craftsmanship could be called Moutai liquor 6- 10 times that of ordinary sorghum liquor. On the one hand, this liquor is not for the salt workers who transport salt. On the other hand, in the early days of the Republic of China, there was nothing to export except the wood and wild fungi transported to Chongqing. The price of salt transported from other provinces was high, but it was indispensable. We transported For things going out only the price of Maotai can go up.Before 2006, 80% of the enterprises in Moutai Town would not choose to make Moutai liquor. The cost is too high. For local people, Moutai did not belong to local people 80 years ago, but psychologically, Moutai liquor is a It is an exaggeration to say that even in difficult times, Maotai is still the belief of the local people, because Maotai is a state-owned enterprise, aside from the aura that Maotai has superimposed later, in the small place of Maotai Town, it is a miracle that the Moutai brewing process has been passed down to the present. ( Interview,Zhou Shanrong Oral, 2021)
In the more than ten years before the "Cultural Revolution", Moutai has been used for state banquets, and it is the most important and highest-level standard for diplomatic reception in embassies and consulates abroad. The commodity attribute of Moutai is the luxury of the privileged class. The consumption and dissemination of Moutai are all carried out within the scope of completely closed special supply channels. Among ordinary people, the understanding of Moutai by those who care about wine is nothing more than "Guizhou specialty" and "the first of the eight famous wines". For most Chinese, Moutai is a symbol of social status. Consuming Moutai is the only activity that allows Chinese people outside the upper class to enjoy the pleasure of
"overstepping".