HK Media's Guizhou Tour: 40,000-Workforce Drives Moutai's Development; Zhijindong Cave Crowned China's Finest

On the fourth day of the delegation's Guizhou tour (April 25), the members visited the globally renowned Moutai Liquor Factory and the national 5A-level tourist scenic spot, Zhijindong Cave.

The Moutai Chinese Liquor Culture City, a large-scale wine culture exposition area invested and built by Kweichow Moutai Group between 1993 and 1997, Photo by Bastille Post

The statues of Mr. Zhou Enlai and Mr. Charlie Chaplin in the scenic spot, Photo by Bastille Post

In the morning, the delegation visited the Moutai Liquor Factory and the Moutai Chinese Liquor Culture City, a large-scale wine culture exposition area invested and built by Kweichow Moutai Group between 1993 and 1997, to have a deep insight into the Group's liquor-making process. The Group is headquartered in the scenic Maotai Town, located on the banks of the Chishui River in northern Guizhou Province, while the headquarters sits at an average altitude of 423 meters and employs more than 40,000 people.

The Group traces its roots back to three historic distilleries in Maotai Town — "Chengyi", "Ronghe", and "Hengxing", each with over a century of brewing history.

Photo by Bastille Post

The development of Moutai, Photo by Bastille Post

With Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd. as its core subsidiary, Kweichow Moutai Group focuses its development on three core pillars: Wine Industry, Wine-Tourism & Health Care, and Industrial Chain Finance. The Group now oversees 36 wholly-owned, holding, and joint-stock companies, with business interests spanning baijiu, health liquor, grape wine, securities, insurance, banking, cultural tourism, education, real estate, ecological agriculture, and baijiu-related upstream and downstream industries.

The introduction of the staff, Photo by Bastille Post

Mr. Zhou Enlai and Kweichow Moutai, Photo by Bastille Post

Its flagship product, Kweichow Moutai, is widely recognized as the originator and quintessential representative of China's sauce-flavor Daqu liquor. Its core production area covers 15.03 square kilometers. Kweichow Moutai holds the titles of "China's Geographical Indication Product", "China-EU Geographical Indication Product", and "Organic Food", and is also recognized as China's national intangible cultural heritage, making it a fragrant Chinese calling card that has spread its reputation across the world.

Special versions of Kweichow Moutai, Photo by Bastille Post

The display wall of Kweichow Moutai, Photo by Bastille Post

The reporter had the opportunity to taste Moutai ice cream firsthand. To describe the actual taste: it resembles the grape rum ice cream available in Hong Kong supermarkets, but without grapes, leaving a subtle hint of alcohol and sweetness on the palate. The Group's staff said the ice cream contains 3% Moutai liquor and comes in five flavors: original, chocolate, strawberry, matcha, and plum. A single scoop costs 39 RMB.

Photo by Bastille Post

The Moutai ice cream, Photo by Bastille Post

In the afternoon, the delegation toured the Zhijindong Cave UNESCO Global Geopark in Zhijin County, Bijie City, which is also Guizhou's first UNESCO Global Geopark and carries the reputation of being "China's most beautiful cave". Moreover, it's a National Scenic Area, National Geopark, National Natural Heritage, and National 5A-level Tourist Scenic Spot.

The Zhijindong Cave UNESCO Global Geopark, Photo by Bastille Post

The Zhijindong Cave UNESCO Global Geopark, Photo by Bastille Post

The reasons for Zhijindong Cave to earn a status of UNESCO Global Geopark are based on its unique geological heritage characteristics and extremely high aesthetic value. First, it contains the densest concentration of cave halls.

Photo by Bastille Post

Second, Zhijindong Cave features nearly every known type of karst deposits— stone walls, stalagmites, moon milk stones, rimstones, curling stones, cave flowers, flowstones, and more. It also boasts the widest variety of rare karst accumulations. Cave landscapes such as the Silver Rain Tree, Overlord's Helmet, Upside-Down Pipa, Grand Mural, and Twins Jade Tree are breathtakingly lifelike.

Photo by Bastille Post

According to the staff of the scenic spot, Zhijindong Cave can be called a place that will change one's view of what a cave can be, making visitors marvel that a cave could actually be outstandingly beautiful. Beyond the magnificent scenery of the cave, the Geopark also includes attractions such as dense sinkholes, natural bridges, and other geological landscapes. Moreover, the Wujiang River Source Gallery also offers a striking combination of gorges, high cliffs, and tranquil waters, featuring both aquatic and above-ground landscapes.

Photo by Bastille Post

The staff explained that most people have heard of the Chinese idiom "dripping water wears away stone". But the transformations inside the Zhijindong Cave could be better described as "dripping water builds stone" — as water droplets continuously contribute to karst growth.

The staff further noted that green plants have been observed growing on or above the surface of stalactites. These plants absorb moisture from the stalactites. Once the moisture is withdrawn, the stalactites will oxidize at a fast speed, leading to cracking and falling, a form of substantial damage instead of surface soiling. To combat this situation, the Geopark uses high-pressure water guns on a weekly basis to clean surfaces in key protected areas, curbing the effects of plant attachment and vegetation growth.

Photo by Bastille Post

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for renewed efforts to "breathe life into" the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Guterres noted that over decades the international community has built a web of instruments to curb the use, proliferation and testing of nuclear weapons, stressing that the NPT remains the bedrock of efforts to achieve their total elimination. The 11th Review Conference of the Parties is running from April 27 to May 22 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Warning that the treaty is eroding, with commitments unfulfilled and trust wearing thin, the UN chief urged renewed resolve as proliferation pressures heighten.

"This conference provides a timely opportunity to stand together and safeguard humanity from the grave threat of nuclear annihilation," Guterres said.

Noting that "a state of collective amnesia has taken hold" and "nuclear sabers rattle once more," the UN chief said that for the first time in decades, the number of nuclear warheads is "on the rise" and nuclear testing is "back on the table."

"We need to breathe life into the treaty once more," Guterres stressed, urging countries to keep their promises under the NPT.

"It's time to re-commit to disarmament and non-proliferation as the only true path to peace, by reinforcing the norm against nuclear testing, by strengthening the safeguards system and the IAEA's (International Atomic Energy Agency) oversight, and by agreeing (on) the measures needed to prevent nuclear war," Guterres said.

The UN chief stressed that the nuclear threat is compounded by new dangers from rapidly evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing, noting that the treaty must grapple with the nexus between nuclear weapons and new technologies.

"With your support and engagement, the treaty can remain an active and strong foundation for a world free of nuclear weapons in our fast-moving age," said the secretary-general.

"So before it's too late: let's break the collective amnesia around nuclear weapons. Let's renew faith in what we can achieve when we stand as one. Let's act with urgency to lift this cloud hanging over humanity," he said.

The NPT, signed in 1968 and effective since March 5, 1970, is the only treaty that contains legally binding commitments to pursuing nuclear disarmament. A total of 191 states have joined the treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon states, making the NPT the most widely adhered to multilateral disarmament agreement.

According to the NPT, a review conference is held every five years to assess the treaty's implementation.

UN chief urges renewed resolve as nuclear treaty credibility erodes amid proliferation pressures