Mixing Wine and Changing Minds.docVIP

Mixing Wine and Changing Minds in his guide for the newly emerged middle class Chinese male， “Life Like a Gentleman” （《绅士生活》Sh8nsh# Sh8nghu5）， British writer Edward Burman proposes that wine-drinking is an essential element in a modern gentleman’s life. The Chinese， however， have proved disappointing in this department， as Burman tells the horrific story of a wine importer in 1995. The man witnessed 12 bottles of pricey Lafite getting mixed with Sprite， bombarded by watermelon slices and gulped down by a group of Chinese businessmen while shouting “干杯！” （g`nb8i， cheers）. From the Western perspective， such drinking habits are certainly strange. But for many Chinese， the tannic taste of wine is just plain weird， believing wine should be sweet and fruity. All this began with a domestic Chinese wine called “half-juice wine，” wine that mixes fermented grape juice with other fruit juice， water and sugar. Because of the simple process in making the half-juice wine， it practically dominated the market until 2004， when such products were banned all together due to tainted wine production. Before then， almost all wine labels produced half-juice wine， such as Changyu （张裕） and Great Wall （长城 Ch1ngch9ng）. Tonghua Grape Wine （通化葡萄酒 T4nghu3 P%t1oji^） used to be the favorite half-juice wine for the country’s leaders. Founded in 1937， Tonghua certainly had its day of glory. Produced from grapes grown at the foot of Changbai Mountain （长白山 Ch1ngb1i Sh`n） in Jilin Province， Tonghua wine was served at state banquets and diplomatic dinners and was promoted nationwide. At one time， it was “The Red Wine of the Nation.” From the founding ceremony to China’s tenth anniversary， the sweet Tonghua wine was there every step of the way. Even former US president Richard Nixon and former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had their share of Tonghua wine during their visits to China. The taste of Tonghua Grape Wine was then regarded as standard for all wine. Half-juice wine is easy to make. To cut