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Bacchus in the East: The Chinese Grape Wine Industry, 1892-1938

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

Michael R. Godley
Michael R. Godley
Affiliation:
Michael R. Godley is lecturer in history atMonash University
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Abstract

China has produced wine from grapes since the second century, B.C., but interest in Western wines did not begin until the late nineteenth century. Professor Godley describes the origins of the modern industry, which he traces back to an overseas Chinese entrepreneur from Southeast Asia who, despite the obvious advantages held by foreign competitors, began the construction of the country's first modern winery in 1892. One of the more unusual capitalist ventures in the late Qing and early Republican periods, the company ran into financial difficulties, but not before it had established a precedent for what is now a rapidly expanding business. Although the vicissitudes of the grape wine industry illustrate some important points about modern Chinese economic development, the author offers this case study in business history as something of an allegory: wine as a symbol for the meeting of East and West, yesterday and today.

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Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 60 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1986 , pp. 383 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1986

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References

1 See Zongye, Zheng, Zhongguo mingjiu zhi [Famous Chinese wines] (Beijing, 1980)Google Scholar and Mingjiu huapu [Pictorial on famous wines] (Hunan, 1980).Google Scholar

2 I have been collecting material on this topic since 1970. when I had the pleasure of interviewing Chang Tan-nung in Singapore. His grandfather, Chang Lien-keh (Zhang Lianji) served for a time as the winery manager. The early history of the enterprise was easy enough to come by, but the account presented in this essay has taken years to pull together. My efforts were helped immeasurably by the recent appearance of three Chinese-language works by individuals who have considerable knowledge of the company. Li Songgan has interviewed a number of people who are related to the founder in “Zhang Bishi yu Yantai Zhang Yu niangjiu gongsi” [Zhang Bishi and the Zhang Yü Wine Company at Yantai], Gong shang shiliao [Historical materials on industry and commerce] (Beijing, 1981), 2:164–76Google Scholar. The winemaster, Zhu Mei, has published memoirs as “Guanyu jiude jixiang shiliao” [Historical items with regard to wine], in Wenshi ziliao xuanji [Collection of historical sources] (Beijing, 1980), 66:204–17Google Scholar; and a patient Shandong scholar, Lu Tao, has collected still more materials: ‘Aiguo huaqiao Zhang Bishi yu Yantai Zhang Yu putou niangjiu gongsi” [The patriotic overseas Chinese Zhang Bishi and the Zhang Yü grape wine company], Wenshi ziliao xuanji (Jinan, 1983), 129–47.Google Scholar

3 Qian, Sima, Shiji [Historical record], 123:15aGoogle Scholar. The translation is from Needham, Joseph et al. ,Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5. Chemistry and Chemical Technology. Part IV: Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Apparatus, Theories and Gifts (Cambridge, England, 1980), 151Google Scholar, but there are also other references to the origin and spread of grapes, 136–62.

4 Ibid. Sinologists might wish to trace the various references in the great Qing encyclopedia, Gujin tushu jicheng. See the jiu [wine] sections of the foodstuffs chapters: 277–82. Zhang Qian's grapes were probably of Persian origin, although at least one Western scholar, Herbert Allen Giles, China and the Chinese (1912), 131, claimed that the term putou came from the Greek βurpus: a bunch of grapes. For another example of classical scholarship, consult Grosier, M. L'Abbé, Description general de la Chine (Paris, 1785), 318–23, 650–52.Google Scholar

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9 Ibid., 3:182. Boxer, Charles R., The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415–1825 (London, 1969), 215Google Scholar, notes that ships to Coa were often deeply laden with wine and water casks as ballast.

10 Hue, Journey through the Chinese Empire, 322. and Hunter, W. C., The “Ean Kwae” at Canton before the Treaty Days, 1825–1844 (London, 1882), 89.Google Scholar

11 “Statement of the Foreign Trade with China” (16 Feb. 1944), in British Parliamentary Papers: China (Area Studies Series) (Shannon, Ireland, 1972), 40Google Scholar: 308n45. See also the Reverend Smith's, GeorgeA Narrative of an Exploratory Visit to Each of the Consular Cities of China, and to the Islands of Hong Kong and Chusan on Behalf of the Church Missionary Society, in the Years 1844, 1845, 1846 (London, n.d.), 476.Google Scholar

12 Hunter, The “Fan Kwae” at Canton, 151–52.

13 See Ch'en, Jerome, China and the West: Society and Culture, 1815–1937 (London, 1979), 217.Google Scholar

14 “Diplomatic and Consular Reports, No. 2145, Annual Series, China. Report for the Year 1897 on the Trade of Chefoo,” reprinted in British Parliamentary Papers: China, 21: 288–89. See also Wagner, Wilhelm, Die Chinesische Landwirtschaft (Berlin, 1926), 422.Google Scholar The French adventures are related in various Chinese accounts of the Chang Yü Pioneer Wine Company.

15 Godley, Michael R., The Mandarin-Capitalists from Nanyang: Overseas Chinese Enterprise and the Modernization of China, 1893–1911 (Cambridge, England, 1981).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 Ibid., 79–93. See also Feuerwerker, Albert, China's Early Industrialization: Sheng Hsuan-huai (1844–1916) and Mandarin Enterprise (Cambridge, Mass., 1958).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

17 “Diplomatic and Consular Reports, No. 1066, Annual Series, China. Report for the Year 1891 on the Trade of Chefoo,” in British Parliamentary Papers: China, 17: 472.Google Scholar At least one Chinese secondary source claims that Zhang was drinking brandy in Batavia. See Han Qing, “Shiyejie guaijie Zhang Bishi zhuangi” [The extraordinary biography of the great entrepreneur Zhang Bishi], in Hong Kong's Qungiu zazhi [Spring and autumn magazine], 16 March 1969, 26. Zhang's own version is recorded in Shangwu guanbao [Commercial gazette] (1907), l:34a-35b; 2:33a-35a; and 3:29a-32b. I first read about these events in a series of articles in the Penang Sin Poe, March 1899. Fortunately, some of this primary material has also been excerpted in Sun Yutong, comp., Zhongguo jindai gongyeshi ziliao diyiji, 1840–1895 [Materials on the history of industry in modern China, first compilation for 1840–1895] (Beijing, 1957), 1:487–88 and, more extensively, in Jingyu, Wang, comp., Zhongguo jindai gongyeshi ziliao dierji, 1895–1914 [Second compilation, for 1895–1914] (Beijing, 1957), 2: 998–1001.Google Scholar

18 Ibid. But see also “Diplomatic and Consular Reports, No. 1599, China. Report on the Trade for Chefoo for 1894,” in British Parliamentary Papers: China, 19: 166–67.Google Scholar

19 Zhu Mei, “Guanyu jiude jixiang shiliao” [Historical items with regard to wine], 205–6. Little more is known of von Babo. Li Songgan, “Zhang Bishi,” 168, suggests that the Austrian did not become consul until after he began work at the winery, but this is contradicted by other sources.

20 Wilson, James Harrison, China: Travels and Investigations in the “Middle Kingdom”: A Study of Its Civilization and Possibilities with a Glance at Japan (New York, 1887), 88–89.Google Scholar

21 Thomson, John, Through China with a Camera (London, 1899). 202–6.Google Scholar

22 As C. F. Gordon Cumming, who dropped his anchor in Chefoo in May 1897 recalled, the port was “quite the favourite sanitary resort of Europeans whose lot is cast in China.” Wanderings in China (London, n.d.), 131.

23 Thomson, Through China with a Camera, 204. Consult Morse, Hosea Ballou, The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire (Shanghai, 1908), 217–18Google Scholar, which also describes Chefoo.

24 For Qing documentary evidence, see: Qingchao xuwenxian tongkao [Encyclopedia of Qing dynastic records, continued] (1921; Taibei, 1963), 4: 11,300 and 11,323.

25 DoQing lichao shilu [Veritable records of the Qing dynasty], Guangxu reign, 420: 15a-b.

26 China Imperial Maritime Customs: Decennial Reports, Vol. 1, 1892–1901 (Shanghai, 1914), 69–70.Google Scholar

27 Martin, W. A. P., The Awakening of China (London, 1907), 32.Google Scholar

28 China Imperial Maritime Customs: Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1908 (Shanghai, 1909), 111–12.Google Scholar

29 See, for example, Hao, Yen Ping, “Entrepreneurship and the West in East Asian Economic and Business History,” Business History Review 56 (Summer 1982): 149–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

30 DaQing lichao shilu [Veritable reeords of the Qing dynasty], 420:15a-b. The comparison with other early private enterprises is from Zhen, Chen and Lo, Yao, comps., Zhongguo jindai gongye shi ziliao: minzu ziben shi ziliao [Source materials on the history of modern Chinese industry: Industries founded and operated by capital of the national bourgeoisie] (Beijing, 1957), 38–52.Google Scholar

31 The battle with phylloxeria is described by most of the Chinese-language secondary sources, but see also Jingyu, Wang, comp., Zhongguo jindai gongyeshi ziliao dier ji, 1895–1914, 2:1000Google Scholar, for a contemporary Shandong account, or Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1908. Even more background of a technical nature can be found in Zhongguo shíye zhi (Shandong, sheng) [Chinese industry and commerce (Shandong province)] (Shanghai, 1934), part 5, 288–98. For Mayers, see Returns of Trade and Trade Reports, 1912 (Shanghai, 1913), 112.Google Scholar

32 Ibid. See the volumes for 1913, 1914, and 1915. For more about twentieth-century Chefoo, see Zhongguo shiye zhi, part 4, 65–66; Shandong (Shanghai, 1935), 40, 90–92Google Scholar; and the comprehensive two-volume work, Yantai yaolan shoubian [The classified director) of Chefoo], ed. Qianli, Zhang (Yantai, 1933).Google Scholar

33 The winery even came to the attention of the British Parliament. See the first-hand account, “Report by Mr W. J. Garnett of a Journey through the Provinees of Shantung and Kiangsu,” in Accounts and Papers 12 February to 28 August 1907 (London), 1–26.Google Scholar There are also several photo albums: Wright, Arnold, ed., Twentieth-Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai and the Other Treaty Ports of China (London, 1908), 770–71Google Scholar, China As She Is. A Comprehensive Album (Shanghai, 1934), 252–53Google Scholar, actually show the Chang Yü Pioneer Wine Company. The warlord Feng Yuxiang, who visited in the 1930s. confirms much that is found in the more recent secondary literature: Jiaodong luji [Marshall Feng Yuhsiang: A Journey through Eastern Shantung] n.p., n.d. [1934]).

34 Garnett, “Report,” 2; Returns of Trade and Trade Reports 1908, 112.

35 Michael R. Godley, “China's World's Fair of 1910,” Modern Asian Studies (July 1978), 503–22.

36 China Maritime Customs: Returns of Trade and Trade Reports 1914, 346.

37 Compare Li Songgan, “Zhang Bishi,” 171 with The China and Far East Business Guide and Directory (Hong Kong, 1919), 389.Google Scholar

38 Zeng Zongye, Zhongguo mingjiu zhi [Famous Chinese wines], 105, 111; Mingjiu huapu [Pictorial on famous wines], 71, 196; Zhu Mei, “Guanyu jiude jixiang shilian” [Historical items with regard to wine], 204, 206; Lu Tao, “Aiguo huaqiao Zhang Bishi yu Yanlai Zhang Yu putou niangjiu gongsi” [The patriotic overseas Chinese Zhang Bishi and the Zhang yü grape wine company], 139.

39 Although there are good Chinese-language sources and much more available in English, the story of China's participation in this famous world's fair has not received scholarly attention. The magazine Zhonghua shiye jie [The world of Chinese commerce and industry] gave extensive coverage to the exposition throughtout 1915, as did the popular press, vol. 3, no. 1 (Jan 1916) gives details of the Change Yu display. As Todd, Frank Morton remembered in The Story of the Exposition (New York, 1921), 4:302Google Scholar, “In Chinese wines and brandies there was a large showing.” For those interested in learning more about China's participation, Harvard University holds the official report: Panana saihui zhili kuanhui yebian (Beijing, 1921).Google Scholar

40 I discuss Zhang Bishi's visit to New York City in The Mandarin-Capitalists, 186–89. The delegation received considerable coverage in the press, coast to coast. For San Francisco, see the early May and early July 1915 issues of The Daily Journal of Commerce, the San Francisco Examiner, and the San Francisco Chroncile. Zhang Bishi's photo appears on the front page of the Chronicle on 4 May 1915.

41 These anecdotes are from the San Francisco Chronicle, 1, 2, and 13 July 1915.

42 See Godley, The Mandarin-Capitalists.

43 The Chinese Economic Bulletin, 28 March 1925, 4 and 26 Dec. 1926, 556–57; The China Yearbook, 1921–2, 766, and 1925–6, 178; and from information compiled by the Shandong provincial authorities, Shandong gongshangye baogao [Report on Shandong's industry and commerce] (1931), 92–94. Ex-factory prices appear in Zhang Qianli, Yantai yaolan shoubian [The classified directory of Chefoo], 13: 5. For the record, 3,600 bottles sold in Fuzhou (Foochow) in 1926. Little more can be said about price. In the early 1930s, the brandy was fixed at between $20 and $26 a case, while the wines averaged about one dollar a bottle. We also know that the twenty or so skilled technicians employed at that time earned from $12 to 100 a month, while the approximately eighty laborers who worked the acreage still in cultivation (no more than 200) had to be content with long hours and $8.20 to $20.00 a month.

44 Losses are reported in Shandong gongshangye baoguo [Report on Shandong's industry and commerce], 92–94.

45 The foreign opinion is from China Maritime Customs: Decennial Reports, vol. 5, 1922–31, 428. See also Feng Yuxiang, Jiaodong luji [A journey through Eastern Shantung], 83–84. Difficult as it is to document the company's decline, several useful sources have not yet been mentioned. The best is “Yantaizhi niangzao ye” [Yantai wine-making and brewing industries], which was published in the academic journal Jingji yanjiu [Economic research] (Nov. 1940), 1–23. Other works include: Xianting, Fang, Zhongguo gongye ziben wenti [The question of Chinese industrial capital] (Shanghai, 1937), 44–49Google Scholar, which gives figures for other overseas Chinese investments; Shandongzhi nong gong kuang ye [Shandong's agriculture, industry, and mining] (n.p., 1935), 8–21; Yanshao, Xu, comp., Zhongguo gongye shiyao [Essential history of Chinese industry] (Shanghai, 1923), 19a–21aGoogle Scholar; Dajin, Yang, comp., Jindai Zhongguo shiye tongzhi [Modern industries of China by Young Ta Chin] (Nanjing, 1935), 414–33Google Scholar; and Zhongguo jingji nianjian [Chinese economic yearbook] (Shanghai, 1934), 2: 81–82.Google Scholar

46 Little can be found about domestic competition. See, for example, the fragmentary evidence in The Chinese Economic Bulletin, 28 March 1925, 173–75; 26 Sept. 1925, 188; and 3 Oct. 1926, 165, or Xu Yanshao, Zhongguo gongye shiyao [Essential history of Chinese industry]. Material on traditional alcoholic beverages is abundant. The investment figures are from Yang Dajin, comp., Jindai Zhongguo shiye tongzhi [Modern industries of China by Young Ta Chin], 432–33, who notes that more than $3,000,000 was put into beer during the same period.

47 For more on the beer industry in Chefoo, see “Yantaizhi niangzao ye” [Yantai wine-making], 16–19, or Zhu Mei, “Guanyu jiude jixiang shiliao” [Historical items with regard to wine], 210–17.

48 Zhu Mei, Putou jiu [Grape wine] (n.p., 1954). In 1955, the Ministry of Light Industry also published the wine-making book which the company had traditionally used, perhaps back to von Babo's day, and declared that the entire country would follow its methods. See Yuntai niangjiu caozuo fa [The Yantai methods of wine-making and harvesting] (n.p., 1955). It also announced its intention to increase the production of wine grapes to 125,000 tons in 1956.