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YINCHUAN, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- In a few months, ripe grapes from Chan Tak-kai's 10,000 mu (667 hectares) vineyard on the vast foothills of Helan Mountain will be carefully picked, transported to nearby wineries and made into delicious wine.
Tasting his wine, Chan seems satisfied. And so he should be, it took the 60-year-old businessman from Hong Kong nine years for his wine business to become a success. It needed just the right balance of conditions: the favorable weather of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, government support, and a lot of hard work.
"I came here to do real estate in the beginning, but I found the land here perfect for growing grapes," Chan said. "Wine was starting to take off under the government's wing at the time, and I thought it would be a good idea to try the wine industry."
The wine industry in Ningxia, an oasis in the typically dry north, has seen huge development over the past 30 years, particularly at the foothills of Helan Mountain.
By the end of 2015, about 40,000 hectares of grapes were being grown in Ningxia, most of it, about 35,000 hectares, for wine making. This makes the area the largest region for grape growing in China.
There are about 85 wineries in China, producing about 100 million bottles of wine annually and another 99 wineries are under construction.
"I did not just choose this place blindly," Chan said. "This is a virgin place with plentiful of sunshine, good altitude and ideal precipitation, which are all great for grapes."
The foothills of Helan Mountain are a perfect location for growing grapes. The soil is full of minerals, and the area has about 3,000 hours of sunshine each year, with annual rainfall of less than 200 milliliters. Located over 1,100 meters above sea level, it is easy to use the Yellow River for irrigation.
Of the geography, Tang Dynasty poet Wei Chan once wrote: "The fruit gardens that have always flourished on the foothills of the Helan Mountain make it a long renowned place."
"CRAZY GRAPE MAN"
When Chan came to Ningxia to look into property, local officials showed him a map of the region with a big blank piece of land on it.
"I said, 'What is this place?' and the official told me it was just sandy desert," Chan said.
Chan went to the desert the second day and collected a bag of soil to send for examination in France. The results were good: the examiners said the sandy land could produce the best grapes in the world.
Chan took his team to Yinchuan and immediately signed a deal with the local government for usage rights of 100,000 mu of desert on the eastern foothills of Helan Mountain. At 40 degrees north latitude, it is an acknowledged golden area for wine grapes. In the west, this latitude produces grapes for the Bordeaux wine region, which enjoys a worldwide reputation.
"Precipitation is extremely important in wine-making, and I believed that I could make world-class wine here," Chan said.
The ambitious Chan set straight to work: he lived in a makeshift steel house and ate instant noodles to save time, and stayed in the grape-growing base throughout the year, as the boss and technical supervisor. He was so devoted to the vineyard, it earned him a nickname: crazy grape man.
Before growing grapes, this crazy man had to forest the vast area first.
"It is windy and sandy in the desert, so if you want to grow grapes here, you have to plant trees first," Chan said.
But it was not an easy job. Chan introduced a drip irrigation system on a flat area of about 50,000 mu and grew more than 5 million poplar trees with an investment of more than 300 million yuan (45 million U.S. dollars).
"No smart businessman would ever do what I did, right?" Chan laughed. "But I knew if I wanted to grow quality grapes, I had to do it."
To guarantee quality, he used grape seedlings from France and Italy, while using clean water from Helan Mountain for irrigation. So far, Chan has spent more than 1.5 billion yuan on his grape base.
"I have set strict standards for grape growing," Chan said. "Each mu of land should only produce 300 bottles of wine at most, and excess grapes must be abandoned."
Chan frequently visits the vineyard and talks with workers at the base, cautioning them about the details of growing grapes.
SWEET SUCCESS
In 2013, Chan reaped his first harvest. The first batch of his wine hit the stores and proved to be popular. The wine, which Chan named "Soul of Helan Mountain," won several awards in domestic and foreign competitions and was sold in large quantities to places such as Shanghai and Guangdong.
Chen's business also created many jobs. During peak season, his base employs about 3,000 local workers.
Currently, the output value of his base exceeds 1 billion yuan, but only one-fifth of the purchased land has been developed. But Chan is taking his time, planning to extend the base by 8,000 mu to 10,000 mu per year.
"There will be a lot more investment," he said.
The government is offering support for entrepreneurs like Chan, with the Belt and Road Initiative drawing an increasing number of consumers to Ningxia.
The regional government plans to extend the region's grape-growing area to abut 47,000 hectares by 2020, to make at least 200 million bottles of wine.
In March, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a promotion campaign for Ningxia, and Chen took part in the event with his wine.
"The Ningxia government introduced wine produced at the foothills of the Helan Mountain, which let more people get to know our brand," Chan said. After the event, Chan pictures on the popular messaging service WeChat, adding the sentence: "China's best wine is in Ningxia."
"They say I am a crazy man, "Chan said. "Well, if I can grow the best grapes in the world and make the best wine in the world, so be it."
