to go and the love of it, and i was the price to go up. and i was to do as an investigative journalist, your who had solved curling cases and exposed corrupt officials. his work led to him spending a year behind bars. now he's come to mount, ty, home to china is most popular. liquor brand wants to go to that region. dollar this, they told enterprise has come china's most valuable company. it's only for taking the country's biggest bank in valley. well, well, i think there's a story here to investigate the good. i can tell them wilson guys from georgia,

here's what i'm interested in. what this company suffers from all the hills. the chinese government suffers from the rocker c, eyes and all sorts of inefficient oversight. and michelle, the doing what the story is now tie. liquor goes back to china, civil war in the 1900 thirty's. when change checks nationalist troops were pursuing the communists. the red army embarked on a one year long escape known as the long march. in southern china, they came across the town as now, ty home to some fine distilleries. it was a thrilling experience as some soldiers later wrote home in their memoirs when we opened the sellers, the fragrance would fill a nostrils the owner was a well known reactionary. of course we confiscated

those soldiers who could hold the liquor, drank all they could. those who couldn't get apart so care feet in it. ah, it's a story of expropriation in excess. although the drinks official history is rather different. shoe g r is a research assistant at the central committee's party history institute to the similar paid for everything to me. they didn't take anything from the last place. they were excited about trying to listen to that. they had to hire, so they didn't drink and not everybody likes to drink as much as those soldiers did. one american journalist famously refer to it as liquid razor blades in china. spirits like melted are called by jill or white alcohol

golf bay. the american entrepreneur, derek sand house has lived in china for a long time. he's written 2 books on chinese drinking culture. mount high is what's called a sauce aroma bought style by joe. that tends to be very savory. it's got like, well, it's a sesame, not kind of like chocolate coffee. and also like more kind of out there flavors like mushroom or even like fermented bean pays. rachel has been enjoyed for century as a cheap, effective drink when the communist came to power, their priorities were clear. the the very 1st business license, the issue was to a badge of factory. the red star distillery and bridging they took a drink that had been up to that point very much like a peasant to workers, farmers drink. and they elevated it to

a position of prestige because they were looking to make drinks that were celebrated by the normal working people and make those more popular than what the lease were drinking. so they began setting up by jer distilleries, all. busy over the country, it didn't take long for the communists to remember the small family owned distilleries in the town of mount ty your they want to create a big stay tuned enterprise that would provide them with that. so they expropriated the owners to about one of them, didn't agree to hand over the factory, was so they executed. what were you doing? miss leo, who has published several articles about bow tie. he searched through archives and

talked to witnesses for him. it's not just history. military represents the vices of modern china. does he look the liquor, the chinese bureaucrats, like for my they don't drink any other liquor. she had, an entrepreneur has to buy this like a jewel. they feel it's expensive. they have to buy it and it has to be this liquor . i don't mean otherwise, they won't be able to establish a relationship with the officials. how about the power of the chinese government has to be unique. the officials happy, otherwise you'll have bad fortune. the chinese system of state controlled capitalism. bribes are often the only way to get things done. ah, the news, the town of mount tai his long become one with the brand that it hosts tens of

thousands of inhabitants have been moved elsewhere to make room for the distillery . as far as you can see in all the mount tai group, kind of family rooms, a private liquor factory within sight of the state and distillery. since china allowed private businesses in the 1900 eighty's, thousands of small distilleries have set up shop in town. the liquor is made from sorghum and wheat, fermented in pits in the earth. unlike western distilled liquors, this one is for meant to dry smell the liquors frank joe la for the distillation process. the grainy masses piled into giant steamer then water is boiled in the steam passes through the mash, releasing the alcohol from the fermented grain is a technique that is unique to chinese spirit production.

the liquor is then aged in earthenware jars pump all over 2 times by storage with us when later, when the kids get married. well, there's an anniversary we booklet for them and send it over like g, like a lot of women project using this services their business model at the same as state own distillery. only top officials can get that treatment me by the late 1950. the drink had become so important to the communist, but nothing would stand in its way. not even catastrophe. at the time now to tongue so called creek leaped forward, led to an economic disaster. the experiment and collectivist ation produced one of the biggest famines in human history. tens of millions of people starved to death.

yet the government is slain. crane quote is to make sure the mouth tiny factory wouldn't run out of stock. while farmers were starving in the field, the factory continued producing liquor for the party. li it was joe in line. china's 1st premier who made mount tied to drink estate banquets, actually he knew well, and he was an experienced drinker. his ability to hold his liquor was well known, and he'd been fond of it since the long barge. now he served to foreign visitors, most famously to richard nixon on his 1st visit to china. ah, time became china's official diplomatic drink that made it even more prestigious for chinese consumers. ah,

today the now tie company is worth almost 350000000000 euros journalist, yo who suspects that the brand that fuels china's corruption, may itself not be on the level. he's travelling to a nearby town by murder. this amount time company has registered an appalachian of origin their own experience produced in the town of mild ty, because now tie them of the company produced elsewhere but here 50 kilometers for mount high. he discovers that the company is building huge production facilities to meet steadily rising demand. the firm has launched various products, costing between a few dozen to several 100 euros dio, who finds out that some of it is being produced here and not in mouth tie itself.

as opposed to the sites are often operating with the newer one cares when they do is if the supervisory agency don't exist in the for you who the story of mount high is one of corruption. but for many customers, the brands proximity to power makes it even more desirable. a few years ago when president cheech and pings started, his anti corruption campaign prices of mountain dropped. but today there on the rise again, a bottle of its premium brand sells for more than 200 euros. and even the cheaper

varieties do, well, the vendor says this one has just risen by more than 10 euros. it was under 20. no, it's at 30. she says you open door and there are many people who collect who see it has an investment by the bottles not to drink to store things on your phone to them. it's not so much liquor anymore. as a financial product remains, it was a door. milton is the spirit of the powerful in china. he'll who intends to keep it in his sights. ah, ah, ah, ah.

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