In retrospect, the development history of Moutai Group is particularly worthy of notice and worship. From the workshop before the liberation to the world's first-class modernized enterprise; from traditional single brewery trade to the pattern of the development of diversified trades; from Daqing-style enterprise, Class B enterprise to the sole Class A enterprise in the liquor industry throughout the country; from the factory system to the corporate system and to the stockholding system; from being known throughout the country to being renowned in the world at large; from backward experienced management to prominent performance management; from the passage of ISO9002 Quality System certification at its first try to the passage of ISO1400 Environmental Management System certification so as to become the sole liquor enterprise that has passed the certification of ISO Quality, Environment, OHSAS systems; from political liquor, diplomatic liquor and national liquor to heavy cultural liquor, mysterious and magic healthy liquor to ¡°Non-liquor¡± signifying ¡°elegant life¡±, the profound content and outstanding quality of Moutai has reached a new height in the liquor industry.

Early after liberation, there were only dozens of workers in Moutai Distillery, today there are over 8,000 National Liquor workers; the annual output has been raised from dozens of tons to over 10,000 tons today; total assets have been developed from RMB12, 000 at its early stage to over RMB7 billion today, which is more than 500,000 times over; the economic benefit has been developed from 16 successive years of losses before 1978 to the annual profit and tax of RMB1.88 billion; the sales volume has grown from RMB800 million in 1998 to RMB3.2 billion in 2003; annual income per worker has been increased from RMB13,700 in 1998 to RMB28,500; for a long time, Moutai has made excellent achievements in being No.1 in both the ratio of profit and tax and the amount of profit and tax per person in the liquor industry in China.

Moutai Group has been rationally engaged in the field of hi-tech. In 2002, it ranked among China's Top500 enterprises with over RMB2.5 billion of business revenue to become a corporation group with famous brand, proprietary intellectual property right, outstanding principal business and strong key competency.

Looking at the history of the development of corporate culture, Moutai has been evolved from the medlar and sauce culture in 135 B.C., Moutai sauce culture, Long March Moutai culture, ¡°3 Mous¡± culture, National Liquor culture, modern Moutai culture, industrial tourist culture to the healthy Moutai culture creating prominent taste of Moutai. Over 2000 years of restless development has given rise to the profoundness of Moutai culture.

The history of Moutai of over 2,000 years can be roughly divided into 5 phases.

Phase I: 135 B.C.¡ª1915

As recorded in history, the origin of Moutai can be traced back to 135 B.C. in the West Han Dynasty, and the ¡°Medlar Sauce Liquor¡± produced in today's Moutai Town was the predecessor of Moutai. According to Shi Ji(Historical Records) , Teng Meng, governor of Boyang in the Han Dynasty had presented Medlar Sauce Liquor to Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty. After drinking the Liquor, the Emperor praised it as ¡°sweet and fragrant¡±, and that is the origin of the tale of ¡°Tang Meng presented the Medlar Sauce Liquor and Became of an Envoy to Southern Yue¡±. All along Dynasties of Tang, Song, Ming and Qing, Moutai had been the elite liquor that enjoyed fame in all neighboring provinces. In 1915, Wangmou and Huamou of the ¡°3 Mous¡± of Moutai were sent to the US for exhibition. And in the Panama World's Fair in San Francisco, the bottle of Moutai ¡°was angrily thrown to the floor to vitalize the national pride¡±, and Moutai won the gold prize of Panama World's Fair so as to become the representative of China's national industry and trade that was known to the world and be one of the Top3 Tequilas of the world.

Phase II: 1915¡ª1951

From the ¡°Angrily Throw the Bottle of Moutai to the Floor to Vitalize the National Pride¡± in 1915 to the Zunyi Meeting in 1935, during the 4 crossing of Chishui River and 3 passages of Moutai Town of the Red Army, local people used the best Moutai to treat old-generation revolutionists of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, etc. as well as generals and soldiers of the Red Army. And at that time, there was shortage of medicine, Moutai was used to wash, disinfect and treat wounds, and the effect was wonderful, so the Red Army soldiers call Moutai ¡°Magic Liquor¡± and ¡°Intelligent Liquor¡±. Father of National Liquor, Premier Zhou Enlai said, ¡°There has also been the contribution of Moutai in the success of the Long March of the Red Army.¡±

On the eve of the National Foundation Ceremony in 1949, Premier Zhou, who showed special preference to Moutai, held a meeting in Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai to determine that Moutai, which had been best in quality throughout the country, as the liquor for the National Foundation Ceremony, and Moutai was used in Beijing Hotel to treat distinguished guests. Since then, Moutai has been used in the National-Day reception of each year. In major historic events like the talks in Geneva, establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the US and between China and Japan, etc., Moutai has been the special medium melting the hard ice of history. At numerous times, leaders of CPC and the country presented Moutai as the ¡°National Gift¡± to leaders of foreign countries. Since then, Moutai has been famous in China and the world as political liquor, gift liquor, diplomatic liquor and friendship liquor.

Phase III: Distillery establishment in 1951¡ªbefore the 3 rd Session of the 11 th Party Congress in 1978

In 1951, on the basis of purchase of 3 private workshops, namely Huamou, Wangmou and Laimou, local state-run Moutai Distillery was established. In the 1 st National Liquor Appraisal in 1952, Moutai was appraised as one of the 8 famous liquors in our country. Under the care of CPC and the governments, Moutai Distillery developed and the quality of Moutai kept improving. In 1958, Chairman Mao Zedong paid visit to Southwestern China and asked some questions about Moutai. He suggested that Moutai be produced by 10,000 tons thanks to its fine quality. Due to the impact of the ¡°Great Leap Forward¡± and the 10-year ¡°Cultural Revolution¡±, little progress had been made for the production management of Moutai from 1958 to 1978, and during that time there were 16 successive years of losses for Moutai.

In a national meeting in 1975, Wang Zhen, then Vice Premier of the State Council, formally declared that ¡°Kweichow Moutai is the National Liquor¡±. From 1975 to 1985, Moutai was produced in Zunyi, and 10 years of practices have shown that Moutai cannot be reproduced or cloned, and scientific conclusion that ¡°Moutai cannot be produced outside Moutai Town¡±, which makes Moutai somewhat mysterious.

Phase IV: 1978¡ª1998

In 1978, Moutai Distillery rose from successive years of losses to gain profit and entered the period of positive development. In the middle of the 1990s, the demand of product was far beyond supply, and Moutai has become the ¡°liquid gold¡±. At the same time, quality and brand have also become the cornerstone for the development of Moutai Distillery and provided vigorous dynamism to the rising Moutai Distillery.

During this period of time, the annual output of Moutai exceeded 1,000 tons, and corporate management kept improving. The Corporation carried out total quality control (TQC) and successfully became National Class B enterprise and then National Class A enterprise. In 1991, Moutai ranked No.1 in the ¡°Top10 Famous Brands¡± and Moutai Distillery became Super Large Enterprise of the country. In 1993, it won Gold Horse Prize, the highest quality management award. In 1994, it passed the certification of ISO9000 Quality Certification System.

Phase V: 1998¡ª

This is a period of ¡°leap-frog¡± development that is the quickest and best in history. At the beginning of this period, there has experienced ¡°1 fall and 1 rise¡±. In 1997, global financial crisis swept the market, and Moutai faced unprecedented severe challenge in its sale. In May 1998, the new leadership of the Corporation was appointed at a critical point. It strived in giant wave of market economy. In the 2 nd half of the year, the new leadership went to different markets, did investigation, recruited salespersons, established sales network, vigorously developed the market, strengthened advertisement, combated counterfeiting and infringement and presented the idea of ¡°Human-orientation, pursuit of quality for survival, inheritance and innovation, preservation of the status of National Liquor, pursuit of No.1 in the industry¡± for its development. After tedious efforts, the Corporation finally combated all difficulties and achieved the sales objectives.

In order to revitalize the liquor industry in Kweichow Province, Moutai has been leading the development of local liquor industry in the strategy of low-cost expansion. In 1998, Moutai successfully annexed Kweichow Xi Chiew Corporation; in 1999, Moutai controlled the stocks of Zunyi Beer Corporation. On Nov 20 th ,1999, the enterprise sponsored the establishment of stockholding enterprise¡ªKweichow Moutai Co., Ltd. On Jul 31 st , 2001, the Corporation successfully issued shares to raise RMB2 billion, which laid solid foundation for the creation of the splendor of National Liquor in the 21 st century. In Feb 2002, it controlled the stocks of Changli Wine Corporation and launched Moutai Dry Wine to the market.

After the transformation and the restructuring, the enterprise further deepened its reform. In Apr 2002, it launched supporting reforms for the systems of ¡°labor and employment, cadre and personnel, and distribution¡± to further implement the labor contract system for staff, break the boundary between cadres and workers and call all of them ¡°staff¡±. The systems of ¡°elimination of the unfitest¡±, ¡°annual employment¡±, ¡°open recruitment¡± and ¡°competitive employment¡± are implemented for cadres. And with regard to the distribution system, the hierarchical salary system that has been used for dozens of years has been broken, and annual salary system, economic responsibility system, risk responsibility system and post performance salary have been adopted. The flexible incentive, restriction, competition and management systems have been established where cadres can be promoted and downgraded, the employees can be hired and fired and the salaries can be increased and reduced. From 2002 and 2003, Moutai Corporation strengthened its management and successfully won the National Management Prize.

Ever since 1998, the Corporation won the title of ¡°National Quality Benefit-type Advanced Enterprise¡±; in 1999, it passed the national green food certification; in 2001, Moutai was listed as ¡°Country of Origin Protection Product¡±, and during the same year, it obtained organic food certification. Since then, the nature of Moutai as healthy liquor and ecological liquor has been known to the world. In 2003, four major events happened to Moutai, i.e., the annual output of Moutai reached 10,000 tons, quality management of Moutai won the National Highest Quality Management Prize, sales volume of Moutai exceeded RMB3.2 billion, the raw materials of Moutai was flown to the sky together with Shenzhou V. In 2004, decision-making body of the Corporation historically and decisively started the new 10,000 tons project to set up the grand objective of the establishment of a large group with sales revenue of RMB10 billion.

At present, Moutai Group has been promoting the cause of the National Liquor in the spirit of restlessness under the care of Party committees and government at all levels, correct leadership of the Board of Directors and the leadership and with the efforts and support of staff in the entire Corporation. It is believed that in the foreseeable future, with the ever deepening of people's understanding of Moutai, Moutai will surely lead the vogue of the consumption of white collars to create the ¡°Moutai Era¡± in the consumption of liquor.