French woman Christelle Chene works to promote Chinese wine produced in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
With the aim of promoting Chinese wine to the world, Christelle Chene of France had no plan to leave her second home — the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.
"Ningxia is my home and I have no plans to leave, " the French woman said.
Coming from the Burgundy region of France, noted worldwide for its wine, Christelle was immersed in wine culture as she grew up. So when she came to China about a decade ago, she mainly worked to promote wine from her home country to the Chinese people.
However, a chance encounter made her start to know about Ningxia, which is one of the most promising regions for making wine in China. Several years ago, she came to the region and started up a wine business in cooperation with others.
French woman Christelle Chene works to promote Chinese wine produced in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
For a normal day at her Xige Winery in Qingtongxia, Ningxia, Christelle started her work by introducing their wine with fluent Chinese to guests who came to visit the winery.
Christelle's life and work in China are surrounded by Chinese wine. With her efforts and those of others, the winery's exports increased by more than 550 percent last year, compared with the year before.
"I want to let the world fall in love with Chinese wine," she said.