赤水河论坛的“新大陆”：茅台把一条河，变成世界酒业的共同坐标

Golden autumn October, and a dialogue of the world’s liquor industry arrives on the banks of the Chishui River.

On October 17, the 2026 Chishui River Forum, jointly initiated by the Xinhua News Agency Brand Work Office, China Economic Information Service, and China Moutai, was held. Themed “Heaven and Earth in Their Places, Moving with the Times,” the forum takes the Chishui River geographical IP as its foundation and discusses the liquor industry’s “new continent.” According to public information from the forum, liquor industry representatives, international institutions, and industry experts from multiple countries and regions around the world gathered on the banks of the Chishui River to exchange views on topics including cultural confidence, digital brewing, and new propositions in beverage alcohol consumption.

Chen Hua, Party Secretary and Chairman of Moutai Group, stated at the forum that the theme “Heaven and Earth in Their Places, Moving with the Times” endows the forum with new contemporary connotations, aiming to closely follow the trends of the times, conform to industrial laws, consolidate industry consensus, and join hands with peers to jointly brew a new future for the global liquor industry.

In the view of JiuYe Times, what is most noteworthy about this forum is not that Moutai has released another new concept, but that Moutai has proactively turned the “Chishui River” — the geographical IP on which the enterprise depends for its livelihood — into a dialogue coordinate that China’s liquor industry and even the world’s liquor industry can use together. This is both the vision of a leading enterprise and a sign of a production region coming of age.

PART 01

The Value Elevation of a River: From Quality Coordinate to Production Region Public Brand

What the Chishui River means to China’s liquor industry is no stranger to the industry.

It is the core production region of sauce-aroma baijiu, a quality foundation jointly constituted by the brewing environment, microbial communities, water quality, and climate. But for a long time, the Chishui River has been spoken of more as a “place of origin backdrop” rather than operated as a “brand asset.”

The Chishui River Forum provides a turning point.

Taking the Chishui River geographical IP as its foundation, the forum advances a river from a geographical concept and brewing concept to a production region concept, cultural concept, and internationalisation concept. In other words, the Chishui River is no longer merely the “common place of origin” of the liquor enterprises of Maotai Town, but is beginning to become a window through which the world’s liquor industry observes China’s production regions and understands Chinese liquor culture.

Behind this lies an easily overlooked economic logic: production region brands have the attribute of public goods.

A single enterprise can benefit from a production region’s reputation, but it is very difficult for it to complete the overall shaping of a production region brand on its own; and if a leading enterprise is willing to invest in the production region brand, the entire industrial cluster will benefit. What Moutai has done by jointly initiating the Chishui River Forum with the Xinhua News Agency Brand Work Office and China Economic Information Service is precisely such a matter that “exceeds the short-term returns of a single enterprise.”

In the view of JiuYe Times, what is commendable about Moutai is that it has placed the enterprise brand within the larger framework of the production region brand. After becoming strong, being willing to turn back and undertake the public expression of the production region, build the industry’s public platform, and carry out the public communication of culture — this is not something every leading enterprise would proactively choose to do.

PART 02

“Heaven and Earth in Their Places” Is Not a Philosophical Saying, But Moutai’s Long-Termism

The forum theme “Heaven and Earth in Their Places, Moving with the Times,” placed in the context of the liquor industry, actually speaks to two things: first, reverence for nature; second, conformity with the times.

“Heaven and Earth in Their Places” emphasises that heaven and earth each occupy their proper positions and that all things grow in due measure.

For the liquor industry, this means respect for the brewing environment, for ecological carrying capacity, and for traditional craftsmanship.

The value of the Chishui River lies not only in its ability to brew fine liquor, but also in its reminder to the industry: fine liquor is a gift of nature, and the production region’s ecology is a foundation that cannot be overdrawn. That Moutai places “Heaven and Earth in Their Places” first in the forum theme is itself an attitude — what a leading enterprise reveres first is not the speed of growth, but the origin of brewing.

“Moving with the Times” points to another dimension.

The liquor industry is in a period of deep adjustment, with consumption scenarios, consumer groups, and consumption habits all changing. Chen Hua proposed upholding the “way” of natural symbiosis, grasping the “momentum” of contemporary transformation, and deepening the “practice” of open cooperation — three reflections corresponding respectively to the ecological foundation, the trends of the times, and the pattern of openness. This is not a simple set of parallel phrases, but a clear path from “upholding tradition” to “innovation” and then to “symbiosis.”

In the view of JiuYe Times, the signal Moutai conveys through the Chishui River Forum is clear: in the face of industry cycles, the choice of a leading enterprise is not to retreat into its own comfort zone, but to bring industry partners, international institutions, experts, and scholars together to jointly seek direction. This awareness of “building the stage” has more long-term value than any unilateral growth declaration.

PART 03

The World’s Liquor Industry Needs a “Chinese Coordinate” Like the Chishui River

The world’s liquor industry is not short of forums. What it lacks are forums with genuine production region foundations, cultural distinctiveness, and a sense of industrial community.

What makes the Chishui River Forum unique is that it does not discuss liquor in an exhibition centre, but returns the discussion to the banks of the Chishui River, to the brewing site, to the real production region of Chinese sauce-aroma liquor.

The geographical IP itself is content, and the production region site itself is persuasiveness. For international liquor industry representatives, coming to the Chishui River is not just attending a conference, but gaining an on-the-ground understanding of the ecological logic, craft logic, and cultural logic of China’s liquor industry.

During the forum, the arrangement of topics around cultural confidence, digital brewing, and new propositions in beverage alcohol consumption also demonstrates that the Chishui River Forum has not remained at the level of “production region promotion,” but is attempting to answer questions commonly faced by the liquor industry: how traditional brewing can coexist with digital technology, how Chinese liquor culture can move into the world with greater confidence, and what kind of beverage alcohol expression the new generation of consumers needs.

In the view of JiuYe Times, the value of the Chishui River Forum lies not in how many cooperation agreements a single event can reach, but in providing China’s liquor industry with a sustainable, internationalised expression platform rooted in the production region. As one of the initiators, Moutai demonstrates not a “home-field mentality” but a “platform mentality”; not “cultivating only its own virtue,” but “shared beauty and shared prosperity.”

PART 04

The New Continent Lies Deep Within the Production Region

When the liquor industry seeks a “new continent,” it is easy to look outward: new channels, new scenarios, new consumer groups, new models. These are of course important. But the Chishui River Forum reminds the industry that there is another “new continent” beneath our feet — in the ecology of the production region, in the culture of the river, and in the way China’s liquor industry dialogues with the world.

From the inaugural focus on “Heaven and Earth in Their Places” to its extension in 2026 to “Heaven and Earth in Their Places, Moving with the Times,” the forum’s path is becoming increasingly clear: rooted in the production region, anchored in culture, bridged by openness, and paved by cooperation. This path does not pursue short-term excitement, but long-term consensus; it does not pursue the solo dance of a single enterprise, but the chorus of an entire industry.

In the view of JiuYe Times, this is precisely why the Chishui River Forum deserves long-term optimism.

China’s liquor industry needs more platforms like this: ones that combine the responsibility of leading enterprises with the depth of production region brands; ones that tell the story of Chinese liquor while also listening to the voice of the world’s liquor industry. This forum on the banks of the Chishui River is turning a river into a calling card, and turning a production region into a common coordinate of the world’s liquor industry.

The new continent is not far away. It lies deep within the Chishui River, and in the heart of China’s liquor industry — willing to open up, willing to share, willing to embrace long-termism.

(This article is compiled from publicly available industry information. Sources/Data: Xinhua News Agency, China Economic Information Service, Moutai Group public information, 2026 Chishui River Forum public materials, etc.)