Hello from China!

[wheezy_shoe]

Hello everyone!

I live in China, although I'm originally from Minnesota in the US. I've lived in China for about eight years, and I recently got into making mead. Before the pandemic, I would occasionally treat myself and my friends by buying a bottle of mead imported from Australia, but it was relatively expensive (nearly 200 RMB for a bottle). In any case, once the pandemic hit, that option disappeared. I really missed getting mead. Then, at the start of this year, I came across a YouTube channel (City Steading Brews) and really found it interesting. What really pushed me over to begin brewing is when, at the local market, I saw a beekeeper selling his own honey. I jumped at the chance and bought 6kg of honey from the guy. Then I went onto Taobao (kind of like the Chinese version of Amazon) and bought a bunch of tools needed.

Since then, I've made and completed a "traditional" mead, and I'm in the process of making a mulberry mead and a dragon fruit mead. I figure that living in China will give me ability to make some meads using fruits that are not very common outside of China - I'm thinking of making a purple mangosteen mead, a longan mead, a kiwi mead, and a Chinese five spice mead, among other types. I realize that this is a bit ambitious, especially for a novice, but that's why I decided to come here. I've scanned through some of the forums here, and it seems that people here are usually very nice and willing to share their experience and knowledge.

I look forward to chatting with all of you and bouncing ideas off one another!

 

[T Murph]

Welcome to the forum from Alabama USA. Very cool sign and slogan.

 

[wheezy_shoe]

Welcome to the forum from Alabama USA. Very cool sign and slogan.

Hahaha, thanks.

It's actually a bit of a bilingual pun. Of course, the "Bee" part is because of the honey, but "New Bee" is pronounced almost the exact same way as the Chinese term 牛B (niú bī), which basically means "cool" or "awesome". On top of that, it sounds like the English term "newbie", which I most definitely am.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Welcome to the gang from Wisconsin!

That a long move - what brought you to China?

 

[wheezy_shoe]

I'm an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher in a middle school in a medium-sized city (about one or two million people) in Shaanxi province. My two passions in college were history and languages, but after I graduated, I was stuck in a job that used neither of those - I hated it. When I finally had enough, I quit and I sought out getting certified (TESOL). I wanted to move to a country with lots of history and a language I didn't know. I had studied Japanese in high school, so that was out of the question, and basically all of Europe requires CELTA certification through Cambridge University in the UK, so that was blocked off for me. China was a good fit, and after I arrived, I fell in love with it. I worked at English training schools for my first five years, but after that, I got a job working at a public school (thankfully, it was about a year before there was a crackdown on training schools that teach core subject materials - those training schools gave an unfair advantage to children from wealthy families, so they had to either change curriculum or go non-profit. Most just shut down).

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

That's very interesting, thanks for sharing. Teaching is not appreciated as much as it should be. We wouldn't be anywhere if it wasn't for someone sharing their knowledge. Just like brewing, we are all learning as we go and most everyone here is willing to share their knowledge.

I brew beer mostly and some occasional wine. I started brewing around 1985 and it took some time to get into all grain from using kits. It's been a great journey and I feel I learn with every brew I do.

Again, Welcome!

 

[Mike Brown]

Welcome from St Louis! My daughter will love to hear your story. She studied Chinese, is a history teacher and teaches English to immigrant/refugee students.

Can't wait to hear about some of your creations with the unique ingredients available there.

 

[chris_]

你好我高兴认识你

Dragon fruit mead and logan mead sounds really good. Five spice mead sounds interesting. Definitely interested to hear how those turn out.

What're the homebrewing laws like in China? Could you sell if you wanted to?

 

[wheezy_shoe]

你好我高兴认识你

Dragon fruit mead and logan mead sounds really good. Five spice mead sounds interesting. Definitely interested to hear how those turn out.

What're the homebrewing laws like in China? Could you sell if you wanted to?

哈哈哈！很高兴认识你！你的中文很棒！
I was worried about the homebrewing laws in China, but I asked around, and every Chinese person I talked to said that there's no problem, although it's typically done by older people and in rural/farming communities. They typically make things like fruit wines or 黄酒 (huangjiu - yellow wine made from fermented rice, wheat, and other grains). I don't know if we're allowed to distill, but I have no desire to do so, so that doesn't bother me.

As for selling it, I don't know if the average Chinese person could, but I know that I can't. The big thing holding me back is that the law states that foreigners on a work visa cannot get any income from outside of what their visa is for. Typically this means that foreign teachers, such as myself, cannot legally do tutoring (although some do do it, I'm not willing to risk it), but I'm 95% sure that it extends to selling things. Again, though, no problem. I make it for myself and to share with my friends.