Li Feng (left) and his family have a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, happy and peaceful to welcome the New Year. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee).
The Chinese New Year's Eve meal is the most important meal of the year. Relatives and friends sit together and push cups to change lamps, which is a reunion and a continuation of the traditional customs of the Chinese nation. This year, we have also specially prepared Taiwanese sorghum wine produced in our hometown Fuzhou, hoping that the business will continue to grow and the good days will last for a long time. Li Feng, an overseas Chinese in the United States, had a happy smile on his face when he was interviewed by reporters on February 9.
Go to the local Chinese restaurant to order a table of food, and order steamed fish with the meaning of "more than every year", lychee meat with "good luck", rice cakes with "step by step", and fish balls and swallow soup with "happy reunion" - this is the ritual sense that Li Feng's family cannot shake on Chinese New Year's Eve every year.
The 38-year-old Li Feng has lived in the United States for 10 years and has not returned to China for five years due to his busy work, but his "Chinese stomach and Fuzhou feelings" have never changed. Unlike previous years, considering that they were going out on vacation this year, Li Feng's family advanced the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner by one day.
*, Chinese cuisine is the absolute protagonist, and the Taiwanese sorghum wine that occupies the "C position" is impressive. The Taiwanese sorghum wine chosen by Li Feng was brewed in Fuzhou by cross-strait cooperation. "My hometown of Fuzhou is close to Taiwan, and people are close to each other, and relatives and friends at home will drink Taiwanese sorghum wine when they visit during the New Year's holidays. Li Feng said that at the special moment of the Spring Festival, for overseas travelers, tasting Taiwanese sorghum wine seems to be able to travel through time and space and relive the hometown feelings.
The wine that Li Feng's family drank for Chinese New Year's Eve was packed at SC Johnson Group in Lianjiang County two months ago, and then sent to the United States from Jiangyin Port District, Fuzhou. This batch of 100,000 bottles of Taiwanese sorghum wine made in Fuzhou has added "Chinese fragrance" and "hometown flavor" to the dining table on the other side of the ocean, including Li Feng's family.
The taste of sorghum wine is different from the wine we are familiar with, with an irresistible oriental charm. Although Dan Chand is an American, he has similar feelings to Li Feng. He has been working with SC Johnson since 2017 and started its business in Los Angeles in 2022, where he now sells an average of 10,000 bottles per month. To Dan Chand's surprise, among the customers who ordered sorghum wine, in addition to local overseas Chinese and employees of Chinese-funded enterprises, there were also many Americans.
Tasting sorghum wine allows everyone to feel a new flavor experience that is different from red and white wine, and at the same time, it also has a strong interest in traditional Chinese culture. The Spring Festival is both Chinese and global. Let's celebrate the New Year together! Dan Chand said.
Lin Zhuohua, chairman of SC Johnson Group, said that the wine culture on both sides of the strait is in the same line, and the climate and soil of Lianjiang are similar to those of Taiwan, and the water resources are rich and high-quality. Lin Zhuohua and Taiwanese businessman Wei Meifeng jointly set up a cross-strait joint venture to brew Taiwanese sorghum wine, and the project was officially launched in 2022, with 99 containers exported that year, and in 2023, this number will be increased to 181 containers, with export countries including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, etc.
The story of 'brewing a pot of wine on both sides of the strait' continues, and we plan to cooperate with Matsu Distillery to transport the original liquid of Matsu sorghum wine to Lianjiang for packaging. Lin Zhuohua said that in the future, SC Johnson Group will enhance consumers' sense of identity and emotional connection with the product by telling the historical origins and traditional craftsmanship of sorghum wine, as well as the connection between sorghum wine and regional culture. At the same time, through measures such as deepening cooperation and expanding the market, more high-quality liquor will be brewed on both sides of the strait.
Cheers! I wish the motherland prosperity and strength, and I wish my hometown a better tomorrow! Li Feng told reporters that during the Chinese New Year, the homesickness of overseas travelers is particularly strong. A glass of hometown wine, chat to comfort homesickness. A table full of blessings for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner can not only please the good fortune of the Year of the Dragon, but also continue every family's expectation of a better life. (*Fuzhou** reporter Li Lunjun Lin Wenjing).