Shaoxing strives to rejuvenate rice wine's aging spirit

Rice wine bottles line the cocktail counter present during the inaugural Shaoxing MIDI Festival held Nov 5 to 6. [Photo by Richard Whiddington/chinadaily.com.cn]

David swipes his hand across the Shaoxing skyline as if to undo the cluster of high-rises that have shot up in the past ten years.

"When I first came here none of this existed, it was a sleepy town. Everything has changed dramatically."

Stood in the usually tranquil Meilong Lake Park, the Englishman's voice battles with the gyrating guitar lines of an Australian psych-rock band whose performance at the inaugural Shaoxing MIDI festival has sent the crowd into raucous antics. Despite having lived in the east Zhejiang city for eight years, the Yorkshire native finds himself in unfamiliar surroundings.

For most Chinese people, Shaoxing is synonymous with yellow rice wine locals have been producing since the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). Suitably, amid the food and beverage marquees lining the festival field is a rice wine cocktail booth, proving the amber colored nectar is never far from the action in this pocket of East China.

Specifically, the very existence of this weekend-long rock festival in downtown Shaoxing was catalyzed by the same authorities who have run the Shaoxing Rice Wine Festival for the past 22 years.

Historically, the week-long festival is the harbinger of winter and the commencement of the brewing season. This year, the celebrations bear a more expansive complexion; local industry heads have witnessed Shaoxing's GDP treble since 2011, they hope to broaden the horizons of citizens and the reach of the city's dominant industry through youth-oriented rebranding.

"This is a good turnout," David says pointing to a gang of well-dressed twentysomethings. "It's nice to see different kinds of young people exploring the city."

The turnout was boosted by an unseasonably warm patch of November weather, but the bartender conjuring rice wine sangrias certainly helped. The Rice Wine Group organized the booth to show a blending of tradition and modern flair.

Typically, rice wine is divided into four varieties spread across a spectrum of dry to sweet. At the bar, festivalgoers choose their tipple, pair it with a suitable mixer, and nibble on local salty snacks, such as fava beans or dried root vegetables, while their cocktails are expertly shaken.

"They have 14-15 percent alcohol content and leave a nice aroma in your mouth," a bartender says while preparing a rum/rice wine concoction. "Rice wine cocktails have attracted many young people during the festival."