On April 20, Guyu. Anhui Golden Seed Distillery held the brand renewal launch for Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng at the Grand Hyatt Hefei, themed "Rain Nourishes All Grains, Gathering Momentum for New Life." Over 300 attendees included dozens of distinguished guests such as Qin Shuyao, Secretary-General of the China Alcoholic Drinks Circulation Association; Liu Zhenguo, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Alcoholic Drinks Association; Hou Xiaohai, Chairman of the Board of China Resources Beer (Holdings) Company Limited; Wei Qiang, Vice President of China Resources Beer and General Manager of China Resources Wine; Xie Jinming, Chairman of Anhui Golden Seed Group Co., Ltd.; and He Xiuxia, General Manager of Anhui Golden Seed Distillery Co., Ltd., along with management from China Resources Snow Breweries' East China branches, representatives from well-known Anhui listed companies, dozens of media professionals, and distributor representatives from across the country. This renewal launch was the most significant meeting since China Resources invested in Golden Seed nearly a year ago, marking a crucial step for China Resources Wine into the new world of baijiu. As a beer giant and newcomer to the baijiu sector, every move by China Resources Beer in baijiu inevitably attracts the attention of the industry, media, and capital markets.
Hou Xiaohai Explains Why China Resources Chose Golden Seed
At the launch, Hou Xiaohai, Chairman of the Board of China Resources Beer, explained why China Resources is entering the baijiu sector and why it chose Golden Seed. Hou stated that the future of Chinese baijiu lies in "a hundred aromas competing," "multi-aroma fusion," and "multi-aroma coexistence." Golden Seed possesses a unique aroma category that aligns with these trends—Fuhéxiāng—and is the standard-setter and leader in this category. Additionally, Golden Seed is one of the "Four Talents of Anhui Liquor," with strong brand genes and deep historical and cultural heritage, poised to shine in the new world of alcoholic beverages. Hou noted that since China Resources' entry a year ago, under the grand strategy of "dual empowerment of beer and baijiu, and mutual growth of both," Golden Seed has formally knocked on the door of the new world through efforts in brand and organizational reshaping, product reinvention, quality-first initiatives, raw grain research, and marketing innovation. Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng has its unique aroma characteristics, winning loyal consumers and distributors through its "sesame head, strong aroma body, sauce tail, one sip three aromas" style. With China Resources' empowerment, the status of Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng has been further elevated, and "Golden Seed is Fuhéxiāng, Fuhéxiāng is Golden Seed" has become the core product strategy.
Xie Jinming, Party Secretary and Chairman of Anhui Golden Seed Group, stated in his address that China Resources' equity investment has provided new opportunities and space for Golden Seed's development, accelerating the company's revitalization and growth with advanced management concepts and quality channel support. The renewed and upgraded Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng has undergone a series of innovations from quality to packaging design to marketing philosophy, oriented by quality, centered on consumers, and winning consumer favor and the future through ecology, flavor, culture, and time.
Qin Shuyao, Secretary-General of the China Alcoholic Drinks Circulation Association, noted in his speech that Fuhéxiāng is a superior liquor category. From global and domestic industry performance, the coexistence and fusion of multiple aroma types is a major trend. Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng stands at the forefront of this trend, a category with opportunity, and may become one of the leading forces in liquor consumption in the future. Moreover, Fuhéxiāng represents a superior liquor culture: "fú" is the physical manifestation, "hé" the spiritual expression. Fuhéxiāng is not just a category but also a cultural concept and brand spirit. Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng should amplify the "harmony culture" proposition, advocate a cooperative and harmonious brand spirit, achieve the sublimation of category and brand value, and become a pearl of Chinese fine liquor culture.
Experts Comment on Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng
Chai Jun, Chairman of Shengchu Consulting, stated that a brand competition strategy of quality first and culture-led, with dual unity, will serve as the compass for action and the central idea of content. One product, one strategy; marketing integration; and marketing for good will become the three fundamental principles for building an efficient marketing system in the new era. The renewal of Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng follows these three points to construct a comprehensive expression system. He believes that under China Resources' leadership, "Golden Seed" will surely grow into a towering tree.
Li Bo, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Nanjing Normal University and Director of the Jiangning Weaving Museum, shared historical anecdotes about Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi and their connections to Yingzhou and Ying liquor. This long history is the cultural root of Golden Seed liquor.
Liu Wen, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Jiaguwen Creative, interpreted the aesthetic value of Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng. Liu stated that baijiu needs to solve two problems in brand innovation for new consumption: first, the rejuvenation and trendification of Chinese lifestyles; second, consumer positioning. The renewal of Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng is not just a simple packaging upgrade but more an innovation based on concepts, an interpretation of the brand strategy "Integrating the strengths of all aromas, gathering China's power."
Fan Wenlai, Researcher at the Laboratory of Brewing Microbiology and Applied Enzymology, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, praised "Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng as a pearl on the Huang-Huai famous liquor belt." He scientifically quantified the standard product of Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng, drawing a dedicated flavor radar for Fuhéxiāng, allowing guests to intuitively experience its quality.
Zhong Jie, a renowned Chinese baijiu expert and founder of Yuankun Liquor Tasting, stated: "Fuhéxiāng is unique; you cannot make Fuhéxiāng outside Fuyang." He interpreted the uniqueness and scarcity of Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng from four dimensions: the realm of fusion, the grain of fusion, the starter of fusion, and the aroma of fusion, and taught guests how to taste it using the "six observations, five degrees, and four senses."
He Xiuxia Explains the "Five Major Renewals" of Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng
Why does Golden Seed need to reshape the Fuhéxiāng brand? He Xiuxia, Party Secretary and General Manager of Anhui Golden Seed Distillery, stated that the reasons are twofold: first, voices from the front lines of the market and industry reflect real issues that clarify the direction for brand reshaping; second, the internal drive for brand reshaping aims to achieve "three roles": a steadfast standard-bearer in exploring the new world of liquor, the primary bearer of Golden Seed's revival mission, and the core product for breakthrough under the 'one body, two wings' strategy. At the meeting, He Xiuxia officially announced five major renewals for Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng: name renewal, quality renewal, packaging renewal, price point renewal, and service renewal.
Name Renewal: The product abbreviation changes from "Xin" to "Fu," which is a pun on "wealth" and "Fuyang," meaning "Fuyang's liquor, blessed liquor, and prosperous liquor."
Quality Renewal: First, process upgrade; second, liquor body upgrade; third, flavor compound characteristics upgrade. After the upgrade, the liquor body becomes softer and more mellow, with better coordination of "strong, sesame, and sauce" notes.
Packaging Renewal: In form, it perfectly combines the traditional Chinese liquor storage vessel, the "jiuhai," with Fuyang willow weaving; in image, it simplifies the traditional "Xin" character and reconstructs the "F" visual super symbol; it adopts Eastern aesthetic colors to emphasize a quality lifestyle proposition.
Price Point Renewal: The new Fu 7/9/15/20 series covers the 188-888 RMB per bottle price range, targeting core consumers and meeting their multi-scenario liquor needs.
Service Renewal: Build a digital marketing platform for Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng, connecting enterprises and merchants, empowering terminals and consumers, and achieving product, activity, channel, and user online presence.
Additionally, He Xiuxia also unveiled five implementation actions for Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng: brand IP building with "looking up at the stars" and "keeping feet on the ground"; conducting three types of tasting sessions based on four focus principles; planning a "10,000 people return to the distillery" program to break boundaries and integrate into public life; promoting the creation of Fuhéxiāng experience halls with co-built experience spaces and online-offline smart linkage; and implementing the "Two Famous" project—an advanced version of "famous liquor entering famous enterprises" and "famous liquor praising famous meetings." In the future, Golden Seed will also strengthen its brand communication matrix to fully empower the height of "looking up at the stars" and the depth of "keeping feet on the ground" for Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng. Around the "China Power" IP, starting from a high perspective of family and country sentiments, they will jointly build the brand image of Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng.
Major Distributors on Site: Why Choose Golden Seed?
At the launch, New Distribution noted that nearly a hundred major liquor distributors from across the country participated. New Distribution then randomly chatted with a few of them about why they are paying attention to and choosing Golden Seed. A distributor from Shanghai, specializing in alcoholic beverages with market coverage in Shanghai and parts of Jiangsu, also operates Snow Beer as a core category. Why choose Golden Seed? He said that from a category integration perspective, baijiu and beer channels have similarities, and off-peak and peak seasons complement each other perfectly, making beer-baijiu integration a natural choice for major distributors. They have grown significantly while operating Snow Beer, deeply felt the responsibility and commitment of central state-owned enterprises, and have great confidence in the professionalism of the China Resources team. He concluded that the content of this launch further strengthened his confidence in the China Resources team.
Another distributor from Shenzhen also shared his reasons for choosing Golden Seed. He said the current state of China's baijiu industry is complex, with prosperity and huge bubbles coexisting, and truly good opportunities for distributors are rare. He believes that most baijiu brands currently manage channels and market operations in a simple and rough manner, leading distributors to rely on market trends, and there is an urgent need for more professional and pragmatic industry explorers and practitioners like China Resources. This is also the core reason he remains optimistic about Golden Seed's development in the long term.
Golden Seed Fuhéxiāng is "setting off again" with a new image, bravely entering the new world of liquor. How will Golden Seed develop in the future? The industry will be watching with anticipation.