Let the good times finally flow

On the verge of failure after outlaying 3 million yuan on a rice winery, a bridge rescues an entrepreneur and helps protect a local tradition

If there were just one man who disagreed with the sentiment that good wine sells itself, it would probably be Yu Jianrong. Fifteen years ago the government official quit his job at the age of 38 after deciding to seek his fortune by making laobaijiu, or sticky rice wine. But by 2010 Yu, a native of Chongming island, northeast of Shanghai, was still far from realizing his ultimate goal: to make his hometown specialty as popular as China's national alcohol, Moutai, the manufacturer of which, Kweichow Moutai, overtook Diageo Plc as the world's most valuable liquor company this year.

Just as he was about to give up, after having spent more than 3 million yuan ($460,000) of his savings, his fortunes took a turn for the better when the Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel and Bridge was completed and opened in 2009.