"Wine as Media" —— How did Moutai win the gold medal at the World Expo?

It has been 90 years since Moutai won the gold medal in Panama World Expo. The story of "throwing a wine bottle angrily and shaking the national prestige" has excited China people from generation to generation. It seems that the history of nearly a century has suddenly changed. So, what is the real history?

First, the United States recruited lobbyists to prepare for the general mobilization in Washington.

In order to celebrate the completion and navigation of the Panama Canal, the US Congress passed a resolution on February1915 to hold the Panama International Expo in San Francisco, California in 2005. At that time, President Taft of the United States approved this resolution in February 19 12, and sent an invitation to participate in the exhibition to all countries in the world.

At the beginning of 19 12, the United States sent Robert, a big businessman from San Francisco. RobertDollar made a special trip to China with the mission of lobbying the new government of China to send personnel to participate in the Panama Pacific (1 1.97, 0.05, 0.42%) World Expo.

It can be clearly seen from the archives of the Panama Pacific World Expo that Grand Week played a key role in urging the newly established government of the Republic of China to make up its mind to participate in the World Expo. He risked the chaos of the current situation and managed to get to Nanjing, where he called on interim President Sun Yat-sen and Vice President Li, as well as Foreign Minister, Minister of Justice Wu, Minister of Industry Zhang Jian and others, reported on the preparations for the World Expo in the United States, and invited the China Municipal Government to attend on behalf of the Expo Organizing Committee. Although the new government is facing difficult times and numerous problems, Dr. Sun Yat-sen and others promised that once the situation stabilizes, the new government in China will actively try to raise funds, not only sending an exhibition group to participate in the World Expo, but also doing it better than ever before. Later, Dalai went north to Beijing to try to contact and communicate with the northern government headed by Yuan Shikai. Later, due to an attempted assassination against Yuan Shikai, Dalai was unable to meet Yuan Shikai during his stay in Beijing. However, with the help of the American ambassador to China, he managed to meet with Hu, the acting foreign minister of Beiyang government (Hu acted before the foreign minister arrived), and expressed the intention of the United States to invite China to attend the Panama Expo.

19 14, Panama Expo sent another persuader, Ai, to China to persuade China to watch the game. He arrived in Shanghai in March and called on Yuan Shikai in Beijing in April. At the invitation of the World Expo, China participated in the exhibition, showing his goodwill. The United States is recruiting lobbyists, and Washington is preparing for general mobilization. Because of Robert? Under the lobbying and matchmaking of Americans such as Zhou Zhou, China officials and people reacted strongly to the Panama World Expo. It is generally believed that this is a good opportunity for China industry to observe and learn. Through this Expo, we can promote the understanding between China and the United States, strengthen the development of economic and trade relations with other countries in the world, and thus accelerate the improvement of China products. Therefore, China must actively participate.

In this * * * knowledge and a voice, the China Municipal Government decided to participate in the exhibition 19 14 in May. Yuan Shikai, then president of the Republic of China, instructed the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance to coordinate the preparations for the exhibition. Qi Chen was appointed as the director of the Panama Supervisory and Preparatory Bureau, and members were elected to establish the Panama Preparatory Bureau. Compile the articles of association and the classification method of China exhibits, and notify and mobilize all provinces to organize the exhibition. The provinces also set up "Shangsai Industry Association" to collect products. 1965438+from the beginning of 2004 to July, the China government set up the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the United States and began to organize sightseeing tours to the United States. The relevant departments have also adopted the mode and scheme of building the China Pavilion for the Olympic Games, and sent special personnel to the site of the San Francisco World Expo to build the China Pavilion.

Accordingly, on the one hand, China Municipal Government selects talents for the exhibition, and besides talents from commercial hubs and cities, it also pays special attention to selecting a certain proportion of commercial talents from mainland local products. And give them targeted training according to the actual situation. Teach some common English, etiquette, foreign trade, decoration, painting, photography and other knowledge and skills, so that they can better complete the task of competition promotion and learning and communication. On the other hand, there are three ways to send personnel and soldiers. In line with all products that can reflect China's national character and add China's glory, we strongly advocate participating in the competition; Based on the principle that all shoddy, vulgar and humiliating goods are not allowed to participate in the exhibition, we will go to various provinces to supervise and evaluate the entries. North Road is responsible for Zhili, Shandong, Fengtian and Jilin; Zhonglu is responsible for Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and Anhui; South Road is responsible for Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong; Some remote provinces merged into the above provinces for audit.

Nanyang Expo, held five years ago, provided a good foundation for Panama Expo in terms of the organization of exhibitors and the collection of entries. Therefore, by the end of 19 14, in just a few months, China quickly formed a delegation of more than 40 people headed by Chen Qi. Among them, supervisor 1 person, 4 full-time and part-time members, 8 clerks, 19 provincial members and 5 employees. Many of them were the backbones who had participated in organizing the Nanyang Persuasion Association. The delegation set out from Shanghai on February 6, 65438 and arrived safely in San Francisco, USA on February 29, 65438. At the same time, the preparations for the entries are also in full swing. For example, in many places such as Guangdong, when collecting exhibits, they are basically based on the list of winners of Nanyang Jiaoye Association. We sincerely urge all the merchants who won the prize in Nanyang persuasion meeting to provide exhibits for Panama Expo. In the name of Maotai Distillery Company, Guizhou Province also recommended two workshops, Cheng Yi and Ronghe. In addition to Moutai, there are scientific instruments, building blocks and primary education in Guizhou (and finally won the grand prize).

2. Maotai was awarded the Medal of Honor by the judges for its "wine fragrance as a medium".

After the official opening of the China Government Pavilion, the Panama Expo gradually reached its climax. Exhibits from various countries are introduced and demonstrated in detail by their respective representatives, and the audience repeatedly compares and exchanges, and the outstanding ones gradually gain public opinion. At that time, domestic exhibits, mainly agricultural products, were not particularly attractive at first, and there were not many daily visitors. Moutai is packed in a dark brown pottery jar, which is not only rustic, but also placed in an agricultural museum. Cotton, hemp, soybeans, edible oil and other products are miscellaneous and not eye-catching.

Maotai liquor won an award in Nanyang cellar industry association, which was highly valued by China delegation. Fearing that such competitive exhibits would be buried in the agricultural museum, some representatives suggested that Moutai be moved into the food processing museum for display to highlight its status. When moving, a representative accidentally dropped his hand, and a bottle of Moutai fell off the display shelf and broke into pieces (this is the source of the story of "Angry Drop of Bottle" which was later passed down as a much-told story). When the pottery jar was broken, the aroma of Moutai overflowed. China went to the championship and supervised Qi Chen and others to taste Moutai at the award ceremony of Nanyang Ye Quan Association. At the banquet of the Chinese Club in San Francisco, they also drank Maotai, knowing that Maotai is fragrant and has the characteristics of leaving fragrance in an empty cup. Seeing this, I had a brainwave, so I suggested that we don't need to change the exhibition hall. We just need to put a bottle of Moutai in several empty wine bottles, remove the lid, open the bottle mouth and put some wine glasses beside it. Just take advantage of the characteristics of the exhibits in the agricultural exhibition hall that the smell is not strong and there are not many idle people, let Moutai sway the aroma and taste it with professionals.

The aroma of Maotai liquor is mainly produced by the metabolites in the liquor. Open Moutai is fully exposed in the wine and its fragrance, which is more intense. The move really worked, and tourists from the Expo site came to look for incense. More curious people picked up their glasses, rushed to pour wine and tasted it, and "snapped" in unison. On the one hand, the agricultural exhibition hall was crowded and lively, which quickly produced a sensational effect.

China exhibits are mainly agricultural products, so most of them are displayed in the Agricultural Museum. Maotai liquor, with its bouquet as the medium, caused a sensation and attracted a large audience. Not only is it known to the public, it has become the star of many exhibits, but it has also attracted many visitors for the whole agricultural exhibits in China, greatly enhancing people's knowledge and understanding of China's exhibits. Now the idea of adding two wine glasses to the newly packaged Moutai is also inspired by this. In addition to decorative and practical value, it also contains the cultural significance of commemorating the Panama World Expo.

In May-May, the Expo began to brew, and a senior evaluation committee for exhibits was established. The United States is the host of this meeting. According to international practice, the United States sends people as the chairman and vice-chairman of the Senior Review Committee. The Secretary-General is elected by the United States, Australia, Argentina, the Netherlands, Japan, Cuba, Uruguay and China. Nominated by the Senior Appraisal Committee through consultation, and organized a jury of exhibits. The jury of exhibits consists of more than 500 representatives from the scientific, artistic and commercial circles all over the world, and is divided into several judging groups according to their professional knowledge and categories of exhibits. China * * * 65,438+06 people participated in the jury of exhibits, covering most categories of exhibits.

According to the actual situation of the products exhibited in this Expo, after full discussion by the representatives of the participating countries, the Senior Evaluation Committee decided to set up six awards to evaluate the exhibits, including the encouragement award without medals, which was divided into four grades. Namely: (a) GrandPrize, (b) Medalofhon-or and (d) GoldMedal, all of which are first prizes; (e) Silver Award, second prize; Bronze award, third prize; Medal of honor.

During the whole Panama Expo, * * * awarded 25,527 award-winning products, including 20,344 medals and 25,527 certificates. Exhibits in China won 12 18 medals, including 62 grand medals, 54 medals of honor and 250 gold medals, ranking first in all countries. Among the six awards and four grades set by the Expo, there are only five gold medals for alcohol. Because Moutai became the star of the Expo through the sensational effect of "wine fragrance as the medium" when it was exhibited in the agricultural exhibition hall, it did not need to be judged by a jury, and was awarded the honorary gold medal directly by the senior judging Committee. Enjoy the reputation of "world famous wine". Later, in 19 16, in order to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal, Southern California held the "Panama California World Expo" in the picturesque coastal city of San Diego. Because "China famous wine has a unique flavor and is famous for its ice crystals, it is favored by people from all walks of life in the West." Moutai once again won the "Gold Award", and it is recognized as the three famous (distilled) wines in the world together with French cognac and English Scotch whisky.

In fact, in addition to Moutai, according to relevant information, there is another product in Guizhou that won the gold medal at Panama Expo, that is, the building blocks of science and technology teaching instruments exhibited in the art museum. This exhibit won the prize because it doesn't have the sensational effect of Moutai, and Guizhou is one of the most remote areas in China, so it is not taken seriously. It's really experts who choose carefully, survive the fittest and strictly control. After several rounds of evaluation, I finally won the championship. In addition, the primary education in Guizhou exhibited in the Education Museum also won the fourth prize, but it remains to be verified whether the winner is north beach Agricultural College in Guizhou. This shows that the remote Guizhou has already gone abroad, but we didn't pay attention to it and didn't continue to work hard. On the contrary, the achievements of these predecessors were gradually submerged. Therefore, today we commemorate the 90th anniversary of winning the gold medal at the Panama Expo of Maotai Liquor, which is also of great significance for carrying forward the historical achievements of Guizhou.

19 15 Panama Expo awards and medals are in a unified format. The certificate indicates the name of the exhibition hall, award-winning awards and grades, award-winning exhibits and the name of the production company. Maotai liquor was exhibited in the Agricultural Museum and won the gold medal. The words "Agriculture", "Medal of Honor", "Moutai" and "Kweichow Moutai" were printed on the certificates received.

At this Panama Expo, China's exhibits won more prizes than previous exhibitions and all participating countries. Moutai, in particular, is the undisputed champion, calmly entering the world famous wine forest, which is the inevitable result of the excellent quality display of China products. To this end, Zheng happily recited a poem in the article Welcome the Kings of Panama: "Panama was an industrialist in zhina during the Games. Mountains and rivers are rich in treasures, and the sea of clouds is gorgeous. Break the thunder and talk Peace in The Hague. Winning the championship, I am great in China. "

Third, two "competitions" held double "gold medals" at the same time and won them back respectively.

The reason why Moutai suddenly caused a sensation in the world, together with French cognac and English scotch whisky, was recognized as the world's three famous (distilled) wines, and it became famous all over the world from now on, which was not arbitrarily rendered by future generations. It is because, in fact, from August of 19 15 to June of 19 16, Moutai successively won the gold medals in Panama Pacific International Fair and Panama California International Fair. In less than a year, he won the gold medal in the World Expo for two consecutive years, which is probably unique among the wine exhibits in the international fairs that China participated in.

However, due to the lack of textual research on historical materials, people generally only know that Moutai won the gold medal in Panama Pacific Expo in 19 15, but they don't know that it started in the second half of 19 16 Panama California Expo. Although many scholars know that Moutai has also won the gold medal in Sanzhi Competition, they mistakenly think that Sanzhi Competition is only a sub-venue of Panama Competition, which confuses the two gold medals and fails to give corresponding attention.

Relevant information shows that the historical fact is that shortly after the opening of Panama Pacific Expo, in order to show the world the great achievements made by the United States in developing the western region and further promote the economic and trade development of southern California cities, the United States government, under the active planning of Sandiego authorities, also took the theme of commemorating the opening of the Panama Canal, from 19 15 to 19 16. Although these two almost simultaneous expositions seem to complement each other on the surface, they actually represent the competition between San Francisco and San Diego.

Although the two international expositions in San Francisco, USA and San Diego, California are held almost at the same time, they have corresponding connections and common themes, but they are essentially different in terms of organization, funding sources, exhibition contents, award methods and medal styles, and are essentially two completely independent international expositions. It's just that the California Expo in San Diego was held a little late, and at the same time, the external publicity and financial investment were relatively insufficient and the scale was relatively small. It seems that its international influence and representativeness are not as good as the Panama Pacific International Fair held in San Francisco. However, the US government attaches great importance to the Panama-California International Expo and enjoys all kinds of policy support and political status provided by the US government, which is exactly the same as the Panama-Pacific International Expo. Moreover, some major countries in the world, including China, not only set up pavilions at the San Francisco World Expo, but also set up corresponding pavilions at the California World Expo in San Diego.

As can be seen from the above, "Panama California International Expo" is by no means a "sub-venue" of "Panama Pacific International Expo". Because these two expositions are not only unrelated in organization, but also there is fierce competition between them. There is no doubt that California Expo is recognized by all countries as an out-and-out international Expo.

Two "tournaments" were held at the same time, and the double "gold medals" were won back respectively. Because Moutai is already very famous in America, especially in California.

Remote broadcast. In addition, the "comment" about "China famous wine has a unique flavor, is famous for its ice crystals, and is favored by people from all walks of life in the West" is widespread. At the California Expo, the judges of the jury took turns to "repeatedly compare" and "carefully vote", all the way through, defeated everyone, won the gold medal of the Panama California International Expo again, and finally sat firmly on the throne of "world famous wine".

Fourth, after winning the lottery, everyone is happy, and two "cases" of burning houses for gold medals in Panama Expo are resolved.

Maotai liquor, with its unique flavor and excellent quality, won two consecutive awards at Panama International Expo in San Francisco and California Expo in San Diego, and is known as a world famous wine. In particular, it was later cited by Chinese living in the United States as a symbol of protesting against American weapons of exclusion and humiliation against China, which was deeply loved by overseas Chinese and became famous all over the world. At that time, it was a hot topic all over the country, especially in remote Guizhou.

The news came that Moutai was once worth a hundred times and its economic prospects were promising. So soon, Moutai became the object of competition among businessmen in Guizhou and even all over the country, and also the object of investment by capitalists and bureaucrats. Under the heavy profit, the good thing of Maotai winning the lottery triggered an unpleasant thing. The two workshops, Cheng Yi Shaofang and Ronghe Shaofang, which produce Maotai liquor in Maotai Town, displayed the brand of Maotai liquor almost at the same time, and branded their products as "Gold Award of Panama World Expo". However, who should win the gold medal Due to fierce market competition, the two wine workshops are unwilling to give in to each other. Renhuai County Chamber of Commerce came forward to mediate, but the two sides held their own words and disputed. The mediation failed, so the two families had to go to the county government for a lawsuit.

At that time, Qin Guangluan, the magistrate of Renhuai County, felt embarrassed after receiving the form paper. At that time, although the news of Maotai's award-winning had been reported in newspapers, it spread like wildfire among the people. But after all, the county has not received the award certificate, and the specific award situation cannot be said, and I don't know who the grand prize should be in the end. "Cheng Yi Shaofang" and "Ronghe Shaofang" used to use Maotai as their brand, and all the wines they brewed were collectively called Maotai. The difference is that each family puts the boss's surname before the word "Mao" to show the difference. The founder of Cheng Yi Burning House is Hualian Hui, so the product is called "Hua Mao"; The founder of Ronghe Burning House is Wang Lifu and others, so the product is called "Elvis Presley". In the past, people used to call each other "Hua Mao" or "Elvis Presley", and listeners knew from the bottom of their hearts that they had never been misunderstood or confused. But now, the name has really become a big problem. Moreover, both companies sent wine samples to Panama Expo, which seems reasonable to claim that they won the prize. The problem is even more difficult. Qin Guangluan knew that the two people who burned the house had different backgrounds. Cheng Yi Shaofang, Rong and Shaofang are the two dominant players in Maotai Town. They have their own backgrounds in the province, and no one can easily offend them. As a result, Governor Qin Guangluan withdrew from the difficulties and went directly to the ministries and agencies to hand over the contradictions without making a judgment. The lawsuit of medal ownership hit the provincial office in Guizhou. At that time, Governor Liu received the submission and sent a special person to the Nanjing National Government to inquire about the matter, and finally found out the ins and outs of winning the prize.

It turned out that in order to participate in the Panama World Expo, the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce of the National Government solicited products from all over the country. Maotai liquor was probably included in the list of products collected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce because it won the prize in "Nanyang Persuasion Meeting" of 1905. Naturally, the Guizhou Governor's Office did not dare to neglect it. According to the requirements of the catalogue of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, it sent someone to deliver it. "Hua Mao" and "Elvis Presley" should have applied according to the rules, so they gave their own Moutai. After receiving the exhibits from Guizhou, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce found that both maotai liquors were produced in one place, and both used yellow-brown clay pots as wine bottles. Except for the words "Wang" and "Hua", both of them have the same name and the same packaging, and both of them are labeled as "Maotai is burning real estate", which is extremely inconsistent with the commodity names of other countries in the world. Therefore, the two kinds of Moutai wines are regarded as one product, operated according to international practice, and sent to the exhibition in the name of "Guizhou Office" with "Moutai Company" as the manufacturer.

After explaining the situation to the emissary of Guizhou office, the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce entrusted the emissary to bring back the grand prize, gold medal and certificate of Maotai liquor in two international expositions. According to relevant information, it can be inferred that the envoys of Guizhou at that time brought back at least the gold medal and certificate of Panama Expo Award for the exhibits "teaching AIDS and building blocks" selected by Guizhou, as well as the bronze medal and certificate of Panama Expo Award for primary education.

The Guizhou Provincial Office was very happy after receiving the medals and certificates, so it called the winners and meritorious personnel, held a commendation meeting, awarded medals and certificates to the winners, and held a grand banquet to celebrate. In order to quell the dispute between the two Maotai workshops, and also for the sake of de facto fairness, Governor Liu issued a compromise ruling at the meeting: "In Panama Games, Moutai was submitted by Ronghe and Hu, so it is difficult to win prizes ... There is no need to give it to brewers to avoid disputes, and the provincial office kept it as a souvenir" (the other one is said to be kept by Renhuai County Chamber of Commerce). At the same time, it was announced that both companies can continue to use the Maotai brand, marked with the words "Won the Panama Pacific International Gold Award", while Maotai Town is not allowed to use other brewing "burning houses". Qin Guangluan, the two "Maotai Burning Houses" in Renhuai County, the Chamber of Commerce, Cheng Yi and Ronghe all expressed their happiness after hearing the instructions from the governor, and they will not argue any more.

The documentary "China's Participation in the Panama Pacific Expo" written by Qi Chen, Director of China's Competition Supervision and Preparation Bureau in the United States, systematically, detailedly and truly recorded the whole process of the competition from three aspects: preparation period, competition period and ending period. A large number of existing historical records and expert research at home and abroad provide detailed ironclad evidence for the historical fact that Moutai won the prize.