YiSheng liquor
Yisheng liquor (Chinese: 颐生酒, often marketed simply as Yisheng Jiu) is a historic brand of baijiu and yellow-rice wine produced in Changle Town, Haimen District, Nantong, Jiangsu, China.[1]
History
Industrialist and educational reformer Zhang Jian established the original Yisheng Brewing Company in 1894 with encouragement from Viceroy Zhang Zhidong (张之洞).[2] This company was on the west side of the Number One Scholar Street, in ChangLe Town(常乐镇), Haimen.[3]
The distillery shipped its ‘‘Yinchen Daqu’’ herbal spirit to the 1906 Milan International Exposition, where it won a gold medal—the earliest World’s-Fair award recorded for a Chinese liquor.[1][4] After a period of wartime disruption, the plant was rebuilt in the early 1950s and expanded under public ownership, adopting semi-mechanised lines during the 1970s yet retaining its traditional pit-fermentation system.[2]
In 2011 the brand was recognised as a “China Time-honoured” enterprise, and its brewing technique was inscribed on the Jiangsu Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage list.[5]
Products
The flagship is ‘‘Yinchen Daqu,’’ an amber spirit scented with wormwood and marketed at 38 %–52 % ABV.[2] Other labels include ‘‘Jianweng’’ (a sauce-aroma baijiu developed under master blender Ji Keliang in 1986) and a range of low-proof rice wines and fruit liqueurs.[2]
Ownership and operations
Nantong Yisheng Wine Industry Co., Ltd. is a privately held company incorporated in 2004 and registered at Yisheng Village, Changle Town, with Quanhui Zhang as general manager.[6] Bloomberg records list 2004 as the official founding year of the modern entity while noting that production traces back to 1894.[7]
References
- 1 2 "Century-old distillery in Haimen". China Daily. 9 May 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 "张謇与颐生：生生不息，走向未来｜好酒中国行·长江酒脉②". Sina Finance (in Chinese). 22 May 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ "Haimen" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
- ↑ "张謇与颐生：生生不息，走向未来｜好酒中国行·长江酒脉②". Sohu (in Chinese). 22 May 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ "古法技艺 非遗飘香". China Daily (Jiangsu Channel) (in Chinese). 20 Dec 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ "Nantong Yisheng Wine Industry Co., Ltd. Company Profile". Dun & Bradstreet. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ "Nantong Yisheng Wine Industry Co. Ltd – Company Profile". Bloomberg. Retrieved 1 July 2025.