The centuries-old fiery Chinese spirit baijiu, long associated with business dinners, is being reshaped to appeal to younger generations as its makers adapt to changing times.
Mostly distilled from sorghum, the clear but pungent liquor contains as much as 60% alcohol. It's the usual choice for toasts of "gan bei,” the Chinese expression for bottoms up, and raucous drinking games.
"If you like to drink spirits and you’ve never had baijiu, it’s kind of like eating noodles but you’ve never had spaghetti,” said Jim Boyce, a Canadian writer and wine expert who founded World Baijiu Day a decade ago.
The annual event aims to promote the traditional liquor, which is far less known internationally than whiskey or vodka.
Moutai, a kind of baijiu made in mountainous Guizhou province in southwestern China, is known as the country’s "national liquor.”
Perhaps its biggest endorsement came in 1974, when U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger banqueted with Deng Xiaoping, who would later become China's top leader.
"I think if we drink enough Moutai, we can solve anything," Kissinger said.
"Then, when I return to China, we must take steps to increase our production of it,” Deng replied, according to an archived document from the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Historian.
Price fluctuations of Feitian Moutai, the liquor’s most famous brand, serve as a barometer for China’s baijiu market. This year, its price has dropped by 36% after four consecutive years of decline, according a report by the China Alcoholic Drinks Association.
The report forecast China’s baijiu production will likely fall for the eighth straight year in 2025. Baijiu consumption has dropped as people spend more cautiously, cutting back on banquets and drinking due to a weaker economy.
Perennial anti-corruption campaigns by the ruling Communist Party targeting lavish official dinners have taken a harsh toll. In May, the party issued new rules banning cigarettes and alcohol during work meals.
China's drinking culture is evolving, with younger people keen to protect their health and less inclined to overindulge or be bound by rigid social conventions.
Faced with far more choices, they might instead opt for whiskey, wine or non-alcoholic alternatives.
"There is an old saying in China: 'No banquet is complete without alcohol.’ It means in the past, without alcohol there is no social lubricant,” 30-year-old Chi Bo said while having cocktails with friends in Beijing’s chic Sanlitun area.
"People no longer want to drink alcohol or tend to drink less but they can still sit together and even discuss serious affairs,” Chi said. "Most of the people don’t want to drink alcohol unless they have to.”
Baijiu makers are responding with creative innovations like baijiu-flavored ice cream.
Kweichou Moutai partnered with China's Luckin' Coffee last year to introduce a Moutai-flavored latte that reportedly sells 5 million cups a day across China. Bartenders also are designing cocktails using a baijiu base.
"There are so many choices right now,” Boyce said. "It’s just about fighting for attention in terms of choice.”
Jiangxiaobai, a newer brand made in southwestern China’s Chongqing, has targeted young consumers from the beginning.
It offers fruit-infused baijiu with an alcohol content below 10%, packaged in smaller, more affordable bottles adorned with philosophical or sentimental phrases meant to resonate with Chinese youth such as, "Unspoken words. In my eyes, in drafts, in dreams, or downed in a drink.”
"Our promotion of products combines the culture and lifestyle young people advocate," Jiangxiaobai marketing director Fan Li said. "From our products to our branding, it’s a process of embracing the younger generation."
Shirley Huang, out with friends on a Friday night in Sanlitun, said she had never touched baijiu at age 27, preferring cocktails. But that night, something new on the menu caught her attention: a baijiu-based cocktail.
"Baijiu is quietly making its way into our lives. We just haven’t noticed,” she said "It may not appear as itself, but it reemerges in new forms.” – AP
