Yibin pivots from baijiu to steel towers, shedding China's liquor legacy

A city synonymous with China's second-largest baijiu producer is now eager to shed that identity, positioning itself instead as a manufacturing powerhouse complete with glass-and-steel towers that dwarf its old distilleries.

Yibin, the Sichuan prefecture-level city that built its reputation on Wuliangye liquor, left visiting journalists with a blunt message this month: the alcohol business is "old-fashioned," according to local cadres who organized a media tour designed to showcase everything except the spirits. Tucked in western China's hills and accessible only via a flight to provincial capital Chengdu followed by a bus transfer, Yibin has historically remained below the national radar despite housing a household-name brand.

Skyline ambitions signal shift

The clearest symbol of Yibin's pivot stands on a prime Yangtze River waterfront plot: a 288-metre, 57-storey tower that ranks among Sichuan's tallest buildings. The skyscraper is slated to open as the province's first five-star Westin hotel in 2027 after the developer secured a contract with Marriott International.

That vertical statement anchors what officials presented as a broader industrial transformation, steering the lower-tier city away from its baijiu legacy toward advanced manufacturing. Yet the tour also exposed the familiar strains of rapid urbanization: a prefecture-level municipality shouldering "many of the costs typically associated with breakneck development" as it races to rebrand itself from "sleepy backwater" to production hub.

The contrast underscores a tension playing out across China's interior provinces, where second- and third-tier cities leverage traditional industries for capital while publicly distancing themselves from those same sectors in pursuit of higher-value growth. Wuliangye remains a national name, but Yibin's government apparatus now treats the distillery as heritage rather than headline.

Source: South China Morning Post