Original title: French "foreign son-in-law" entrepreneurship in Zhuang Village
China news agency, Nanning, May 22
Author Yu Jing Zhu Shuyu
"French wine is very similar to Chinese tea. People also pay attention to drinking utensils and liquid temperature during tasting, which is the similarity of French and Chinese food culture." Recently, Julian, a French "son-in-law" from Nanning, Guangxi, introduced wine culture to reporters in fluent Mandarin.
This year is the 21st year of Julian's life in Nanning. Although he has settled down in Nanning for a long time, he has been teaching at home and abroad for years due to business development. He is nostalgic for not only rice noodles and Cantonese food, but also lovers and Yongcheng culture.
Julian and Nanning became friends in 2003. He went to Nanning to study as an overseas student and entered Guangxi University for Nationalities to study Chinese because of his love for Chinese martial arts culture. In order to improve his Chinese ability, after graduation, he was introduced by a friend to work in a wine import company in Nanning, which became an opportunity for him to explore the wine world in depth.
Recently, Julian took a life video to record his weekend time with his wife and children. Photographed by Yu Jing
In order to promote French wine culture, Julian opened a wine school in Nanning in 2013 to popularize wine culture in the form of open classes, so that wine lovers can understand wine varieties and brewing technology from different regions of the world. "Wine is a liquid postcard. You can feel the climate and soil of France through drinking," Julian said.
After years of research and study, Julian successfully passed the most rigorous Master of Wine examination in the wine industry in 2019 and won the title of "Master of Wine". At present, there are only four wine masters resident in China, and Julian is one of them.
Julian believes that with the development of China's wine industry, people are slowly understanding wine. In the past training for practitioners, he saw that the number of Chinese wineries was gradually increasing and the quality of wine production was in line with international standards.
According to the data of China Wine Association, the cumulative sales revenue of China's wine industry will increase by 4.8% year on year in 2023; The accumulated total profit increased by 2.8% year on year.
"Many people mistakenly believe that wine is unattainable, and I think it is necessary to pull down wine from the 'altar' to make drinking wine more routine." Julian said that in order to let more people understand wine culture, he often used Chinese polyphonic characters to joke with Chinese students in teaching to stimulate interaction interest. In addition, he also held wine blind competition and wine tasting, and was invited to participate in domestic wine promotion activities in Shenzhen, Macao and other places to promote Chinese wine brands in Xinjiang, Yunnan and other production areas to overseas merchants.
In his spare time, Julian also made personal videos to tell the story between Chinese life and wine in the form of funny short films, attracting more young people's attention. "Wine should rock and roll, more modern and friendly," Julian said.
Julian and his wife Wang Xin. Photographed by Yu Jing
Now, in China, Julian has achieved a double harvest of career and love. He and his wife, Wang Xin, have known each other because of wine, and have jointly established a harmonious Chinese French family. On weekends, he accompanied his wife and children to the park in downtown Nanning to take a walk, record family chores with cameras, and exchange wine tasting knowledge with his wife from time to time. This is his "way to love his wife".
"I hope to attract more wine associations or wine exhibitions to hold activities in Nanning in the future," Julian said.
