German Grapes Flourish in China

Norbert donates to Project Hope to bring financial assistance to students from low-income families.

Wang Zhaoke, who is in charge of the viticulture technology, said he learned a lot from the two foreign experts. “Gorres was incredibly strict on the use of his family brand. To maintain the original taste and nutrition, the conventional 10 days of freezing is eliminated at the Norbert-Hans Vineyard.”

Before 2009, Gorres and Beu would visit Zaozhuang twice a year and bring 91 varieties of European fruit saplings. Finally, 16 varieties were chosen to be grown on Chinese soil, among which seven of the best were cultivated at the vineyard.

Gorres not only introduced his expertise, but also subsidized a number of impoverished students via the Project Hope in China, which offered them the opportunity to fulfill their dreams of going to college.

Just north of the Norbert-Hans Vineyard is Zaozhuang’s No. 18 Middle School. There, teacher Ci Fuling told us, thanks to Gorres and Beu she was able to graduate from high school and go on to college. “I was about to quit school when these two ‘godfathers’ gifted RMB 4,000, a fabulous sum of money for me at that time.”

In all, eight students received a total of RMB 32,000 funding from the German friends.

During their visits, Gorres and Beu embraced the Chinese eating and drinking culture – the Chinese for “bottoms up” became their favorite toast. When asked about dining, they would always joke with locals that they preferred to eat noodles. Being long in form, noodles are a sort of symbol of friendship over long periods of time in Shanting, with the Chinese implication of chang lai chang wang (chang meaning “often”) as a good wish for friends to visit each other frequently.

In May 2009, aged 76, Gorres passed away on route to Romania where he was due to introduce viticulture technology to local farmers. Representatives of the Shanting government made a special trip to Gorres’ hometown in Germany to pay homage to his life. In 2010, he was given a posthumous Friendship Award by the Chinese government, the highest award for foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country’s economic and social progress.