Characteristic industry helps township thrive

Amid a morning snow on Feb 9, Han Xueyao, Party secretary of the Xinghuacun Economic and Technological Development Zone in the Shanxi city of Fenyang, paid a visit to Yuan Qingmao, board chairman of Xinghuacun Fenjiu Group, to discuss a project to develop Xinghuacun township. The project in Xinghuacun, where the zone and company are located, aim to build the township into a characteristic town for the white liquor industry.

In January, Han and Yuan had met almost every day.

Building towns with characteristic industries is a new strategy in Shanxi, which aims to develop new carriers for accelerating industrial growth. In September, the province announced its first batch of 10 provincial-level characteristic towns and Xinghuacun was on the list.

The township of Xinghuacun, as well as the city of Fenyang, has a history of about 6,000 years in producing alcoholic beverages. This is according to an archaeological discovery made at the premises of today's Xinghuacun Fenjiu Group.

One of the remarkable findings was a waving spindle-shaped bottle with a distinctive feature of Yangshao Culture, an ancient civilization between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago. Researchers believe this is the earliest alcoholic beverage-making utensil found in China.

The long history and the quality of local produce have made Xinghuacun a renowned white liquor — or baijiu — town in China.

After Xinghuacun was given the status of a characteristic town, the city of Fenyang immediately released a three-year plan for the town's development, aiming for it to become an industrial cluster with an annual output value of more than 50 billion yuan ($7.26 billion) in the future.

Xinghuacun Economic and Technological Development Zone will be a major part of the characteristic town. It is already an industrial base for sectors such as liquor production, packaging, storage, logistics, marketing and liquor-related cultural tourism.

Han said that over the past few months, the development zone has witnessed an investment boom by attracting 63 new projects.

Among the projects, the international white liquor transaction center became operational. Several others are in trial operation.

Yuan said Xinghuacun Fenjiu, as one of the renowned white liquor producers in China, will play a leading role in the town's development. He promised that the group will help to cultivate an extended industrial chain that can benefit more businesses.

Lan Fo'an, secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, paid a visit to Xinghuacun township on Jan 30. During his trip, he required the characteristic town to grow stronger through high-standard planning, high-quality development, extending its industrial chain and more support from the local government.

The city of Fenyang is home to four famous white liquor brands in China — Fenjiu, Zhuyeqing, Xinghuacun and Fenjiuwang.

In 2022, the city's white liquor output reached 177,000 liters, accounting for four-fifths of Shanxi's total and one-fifth of national total. The industry's combined revenue reached 20.15 billion yuan ($2.92 billion) that year.

Yan Zhongxing contributed to this story.