Maotai – Chinese Communist Party’s Wine for Bribery

“Maotai” is originally considered a “national wine” for the middle class, but is now priced at RMB 2,000 a bottle and will be listed under the top 100 global luxury goods, thus no longer for general public consumption. Some experts pointed out that corrupted officials propped up the price.

Maotai is claimed to be one of the three famous distilled liquors worldwide, along with French cognac and Scottish whisky. Maotai, a “national drink,” represents the winemaking technology in China. However, the price of Maotai has been rising recently.

A bottle of ordinary “53 degrees Flying” Maotai was approximately RMB 500 three years ago, but is now around RMB 2,000. 

“Who is the driving force behind the soaring prices of Maotai” was an article published in mainland China. The author, Liao Xiaoli, said Maotai is not simply a “wine,” and its price is not simply decided by the supply and demand in the market. It is mostly used for official occasions, including social and business events, and act as a status symbol.

Maotai will constantly be in short supply no matter how high the price is.

Sales staffs in wine stores across Beijing commented that high-end liquor buyers are mainly the government officials and people from state-owned enterprises. They are not sensitive to the prices of liquors and will buy them at any price.

Professor Wang Ning from the Department of Sociology of Zhongshan University, a consumer sociology expert, pointed out that Maotai had become a symbol of corruption.

Professor Wang Ning: “Maotai is now a brand for corrupt practices. Buyers often use public funds, and sometimes their own money, to buy this wine in order to bribe government officials. The current price is about RMB 2,000 a bottle. Maotai was originally a tradition. Therefore, when in short supply, its price is high. As a result,  ordinary people cannot afford it, and it thus became a luxury. It did not follow the usual development of normal luxury products, but closely related to our financial system and public funds. It is now a luxury brand which is closely related to corruption."

Chinese wine is made of sorghum, wheat and other grains. During Kuomintang (KMT) rule in 1937, the Guizhou provincial government prohibited the use of food to produce wine during natural disasters and food shortages. 

However, under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), millions of tons of grains were used to brew Maotai during the Great Famine in China. 

In an article titled, “Maotai - Emperor of Micro Logging”, the author, Shi Fei, pointed out that during the three years of famine in mainland China, between 1959 to 1961, 30 million people starved to death. At that very same period, 11,300 tons of sorghum and wheat were used in state-owned Maotai plants to produce a total output of 2,079 tons of wine. He therefore mentioned that tons of Maotai wine was produced in exchange for the people’s lives.

Recently, a bottle of 1959 "Five Star" Maotai is put on auction at RMB 1.034 million. Shi Fei wrote: "There is an old saying, that Maotai extracts the spirit of sorghum and the soul of wheat. Everyone knows today that in those three years of Great Famine, Maotai extracted the spirits of people and souls of the dead ones."

Wang Ning believes that the change in Maotai, from a wine used in traditions, to a wine used in briberies, reflects China's current basic problem -- one-party dictatorship and corruption.

Ning: "China's biggest problem is the system. The basics needed are democratizing the public finance

and its transparency. The system is useless if there is no reform. The CCP will never democratize or practice transparency in public finance. This challenge is thus impossible to overcome."

Historian Sima Guang in Northern Song Dynasty said:  "It is easy to go from thrift to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality". 

It is not difficult for Maotai to be listed under the top 100 global luxury goods. Yet it seems difficult for extravagant Chinese officials to become honest and frugal servants of the people.  Wang Ning mentioned that in the situation of non-transparent public finance, it is impossible to curb the unethical spending of public funds. The price of Maotai will thus continue to rise.

Source from NTDTV.com