Changyu

Changyu Pioneer Wine Co. Inc., located in Yantai, Shandong Province, is China's oldest and largest winery.

Started in 1892 by Zhang Bishi, the company's name is formed from his surname Zhang (Chang) and the Chinese character which means prosperity. In 2002, the company entered into cooperation with Castel group in France to establish the first professional chateau in China. In 2006, the company cooperated with a Canadian company to build the largest ice wine chateau in the world near Huanlong Lake of Liaoning province. It has also expanded overseas, building Chateau Changyu Kely in New Zealand.

Changyu Pioneer Wine Company is now among the ten largest wine companies in the world, producing more than 90,000 tonnes of wine in 2011.

Over two thousand years ago, in the northwest region of Xinjiang there existed grapes, and during the Han Dynasty, Zhang Dian brought back both grape seeds and wine makers from the Middle East. It is known that the Han emperor enjoyed the flavor of these wines, but the plants and techniques were not passed down. When Zhang Bishi decided to build his own winery in Yantai in 1892, there was little to be found there but a few edible grapes.

He first brought 2,000 plants from the United States, but few bore fruit and were not sweet enough. As well, half of the vines rotted away before harvest, so he bought 640,000 more from Europe. Even these plants found difficulty growing in the foreign Chinese soil that only 20 to 30% of them survived.

In order to save the venture, Zhang Bishi sent for and brought back wild plants from northeast China, plants that produced a bitter fruit. They were grafted to the foreign plants and, after three years, they were planted in the Shandong vineyards. The new vines survived, granting fruit rich in sugar with good color and were insect, disease, and cold resistant.

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