Changyu listed as national industrial heritage

The 1892 Club (former residence of Chang Bishi, Changyu's founder). [Photo/Xinhua]

The Changyu Treasury was located on the west of the "International Vine and Wine City" Memorial Sculpture Square at the Changyu Wine Culture Museum.

According to the picture book, the treasury was used to store the money used for construction, purchasing and marketing in the early stages of the company's history. It reflected the characteristics of currency circulation at that time and served as a symbol of Changyu's prosperity. It was said that the underground treasury was a secret known only by the general manager and accountant at that time.

The Brewing Industry in Yantai published in Economic Research in 1940 described the company's cellar as being able to "store a maximum of 6 million liters of wine", and that "it now has more than 600 barrels capable of storing over 1 million liters of wine".

The same publication noted, "The barrels were bought from Europe. The most expensive barrel cost 6,000 yuan ($923), able to store 15,000 liters of wine. The barrels were made of white oak, which was firm and helped wine grow mature and produced better brandy."

Changyu's Underground Grand Cellar still has three giant oak barrels that can store 15,000 liters of wine, called the King of Barrels of Asia, and attracts a large number of visitors.

Filtration is a technique to make wine clearer. Changyu was appointed by the textbook office of Ministry of Labour to compile a textbook Wine Making Technique published in 1995. The textbook stated, "The plate and frame filter is an advanced filtration and degerming device. It is small, efficient, and easy to use. It can be widely applied, has good corrosion resistance property, and can be used for a long time."

Distillation is a key step to turn wine into brandy. A scientific magazine published in 1940 said, "Changyu wine is made of pure grape juice, and Changyu brandy is distilled from grape wine." Changyu Wine Culture Museum still preserves an old rusty distiller. Although it is broken, its features remain obvious. It is a standard handmade Alembic Charentais pot distiller made of copper.

An advertisement Changyu First Uses Western Technique to Make Wine published in Fiction Monthly in 1918 showed that the company's most expensive product was Cognac Brandy, at 24 yuan a dozen. The most expensive white wine was Traminer, 18 yuan a dozen. The most expensive red wine was Cabernet Franc, 14 yuan a dozen. The English label of Cognac Brandy was Chefoo Cognac. China started its geographical indicator protection for Cognac in 2009.

Later, Changyu's Cognac Brandy was divided into gold star cognac and red star cognac. Currently, Changyu Wine Culture Museum preserves a bottle of gold star Cognac Brandy made in 1928.

The high school textbook Modern and Contemporary Chinese History published by the People's Education Press includes a picture of Sun Yat-sen's inscription for Changyu "Pin Zhong Li Quan" written on Aug 21, 1912. The caption of the picture was "Overseas Chinese businessman Chang Bishi founded Changyu Pioneer Wine Co in Yantai. And Sun Yat-sen has written an inscription for the company".

A report Sun Yat-sen in Yantai published on a business newspaper Shun Pao on Aug 27, 1912 mentioned that Sun Yat-sen visited Changyu after five o'clock and stayed there for an hour.