Courtesy of LS Moonshine

It is not an obvious business plan, which perhaps explains why no one has tried it before, but Tong Li firmly believes he has found a profitable and unexplored niche in the Chinese liquor market – bringing American moonshine to China.

The 49-year-old, who lives in the USA with his wife and three children, first came up with the plan after being handed a jug of moonshine to drink several years ago. “I tasted it and said, ‘jeez, I didn’t know the US had baijiu,’” he explains. “I thought: ‘this is interesting, ......She is a very strong Christian. But I convinced her by saying that even Jesus turned water into wine.”

It seems that, whether China thinks it is ready or not, expensively branded moonshine is about to hit its restaurants and bars. Only time will tell if Li and his colleagues have read the market right, but one thing he is ruling out is the possibility of bringing his unique brand of Chinese baijiu to the USA: “Not yet, not yet. I don’t think [America] is ready for our taste,” he says.