BEIJING (AFP) — Wine tasting has become an official profession in communist China to help meet surging demand in the increasingly prosperous nation, state media reported Sunday.
Wine tasting is one of 10 new jobs, ranging from colour design consultant to nuts chef, added to the list of officially recognised occupations, the Xinhua news agency said.
Being on the list drawn up by the ministry of labour and social security means official help in standardising the training market, so not everyone can call himself a wine taster, according to the agency.
More than 80 percent of China's 15,600 wine companies have complained of a shortage of wine tasters.
Wine sales in China by 2010 should reach 1.65 billion dollars, about double the 2001 number of 848 million dollars, a study commissioned by France-based wine trade show organisers Vinexpo said earlier this year.
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