China: Wineries

Jesuit missionaries are believed to have been the first to encourage the planting of vineyards specifically to make wine here, in the mid 19th century. During the German and Japanese occupation of northern China at the turn of the 20th century, the first two wineries were established at Yantai and Qingdao. However, still and sparkling wine production in the five largest state wineries—Qingdao, Yantai Changyu, Henan Min Chuan, Beijing Eastern Rural, and Jilin Tung Hua—remained very unsophisticated until 1978 when China opened again to the outside world.