Chinese appreciate French bread, croissants

Press, 23 October 1984, Page 17

Chinese appreciate French bread, croissants

NZPA-AFP Peking French bread and croissants have come to Peking, and queues form early outside China’s first French bakery to buy them. The Qing Sheng French bakery has opened in a southern commercial section of the capital, and its staff says people are scrambling to get its products, which compare favourably with baked goods in France. The bakery, soon to be officially inaugurated, was a "pilot bakery which, if the Chinese appreciate our baguettes (French bread), croissants, and brioches, is expected to lead to the opening of many other bakeries in major Chinese cities,” said Jean Martin, a representative of the

French company, Olivier, which furnished the bakery’s oven and equipment. The bakery is equipped with an entirely French production line with a daily capacity of 3000 to 4000 baguettes which sell for six Maos (27c) apiece — relatively expensive for the average Chinese weekly salary of 70 yuan ($55). Several French companies joined with Olivier to provide China free of charge with the bakery’s production line to promote French bread, Mr Martin said. “Our hopes seem well founded since the stocks of bread disappear as they are produced and that, clearly, Chinese 2 , adore our baguettes," he said after

spending a month training Chinese apprentice bakers to use the equipment. The bakery also plans to open a room for serving a French breakfast of coffee, hot chocolate, and croissants to Chinese and foreigners. A Chinese-French joint venture formed in 1980 and including the group, Remy Martin, is already producing 300,000 hectolitres of white wine a year, sold in China and exported under the Dynasty label. The Chinese Agriculture Minister, He Kang, said recently that China was ready to co-operate with France in producing French cheese and sausages for sale domestically and abroad.