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Orlando Jaime

Professor Crosby

English Composition 3

28 January 2018

Made in China

In, Fine Wine and Caviar- Made in China?, (Made in China) Perrottet utilizes imagery,

diction, ethos, and logos to persuade and inform readers of the progress and success China has

made through the wine and caviar industry. In order for the author to inform and persuade the

audience of China’s triumph, he had to state the negative connotation China’s food and products

has had for the past years. With the help of the rhetorical devices done in this article, the

audience seems to be anyone that is interested in wine, caviar, or China’s improvement on their

food quality. Even though it talks specifically about China’s wine and caviar, many readers can

see it as an article that helps realize the success China has made on their safety of their food.

Additionally, the author utilizes imagery throughout the article to help the reader have a

vivid image and be able to persuade the audience of the information he gives of China’s wine

and caviar. For instance, Perrottet gives the audience an image of the type of restaurant you can

possibly find the fine wine and caviar from China. Also, this small description from the

restaurant the author went to, demonstrates wealthy people are most likely the customers that

have the opportunity to try the wine. For instance, the author describes the restaurant he went to

as, “...elegant dining room adorned with contemporary artwork…” This excerpt brings a visual

to the audience of the high quality restaurant the author went to try the wine and caviar. The

description of the “ contemporary artwork” in a restaurant makes it seem like the restaurant can

be of high class, and also the way the author mentioned the place to be an “elegant” restaurant
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that serves caviar and wine . Tony Perrottet continues to use imagery by stating,“While the

kitchen prepares a banquet of delectable Shanxi treats, including scissor-cut noodles, sautéed

river fish and fried bing pasties…” This gives a clear image of the food and reassures the

audience that the wine and caviar produced from China can be expensive but good quality, by

the description given. The use of imagery supports the authors persuasion so the article cannot be

dull and give an overall image of the authors whole traveling experience. For example Perrottet

claims, “But wine makers are also venturing into China’s more varied landscapes, laying vines

from the desert of the old Silk Road to the foothills of the Himalayas.” The description of China

helps the audience picture the traveling experience and persuade them to one day travel and

experience the whole trip, including the wine and caviar themselves. The persuasion of the

author is to try to inform the readers of the high quality wine and caviar China produces to help

the audience know that China has made progress in the food industry from the passed years. He

wants to help break the stereotype China has of their food causing health issues due to a tragic

event that brought illnesses to many people. For instance, the author gives a brief background of

an incident that occured in 2008 stating, “...baby formula tainted with toxic melamine killed six

infants and sickened 300,000 more.” This statement helps the audience be updated of the author

trying to help clear China’s negative reputation of the incident they had with infants being

sickened and dying. China is known to be one of the most polluted places, therefore, many fear

China’s produce since they do not want to catch a fever or worse. For instance, an article from

Time Magazine says, “Last year, the food supply chain became an international concern when a

series of faulty export products were uncovered including fish contaminated with banned drugs,

toothpaste and cough syrup made with toxic chemicals and lead paint used on toys” (Yang,

Austin Ramzy And Lin, 2008). This statement makes people not trust China’s food and safety.
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Therefore, the author wants to help China on giving a positive connotation and using imagery to

help the audience know China’s progress.

Moreover, Tony Perrottet’s diction helps him convince the audience of the success the

wine and caviar China produces. For example, he bolds and capitalizes the beginning of a new

topic in the article to give a glimpse of the main idea of the paragraph, like in the beginning of

the first paragraph he states, “ON A RARE CLEAR DAY…” This lets the audience know the

start of the article and be able to assume what it is most likely going to be about. For instance,

the author states the rare clear day and then leads to China’s pollution, the reason of why people

believe China does not produce great wine due to the soil and climate. The use of the bold words

and capitalized letters is a good transition from his main ideas so it benefits the audience to know

of what the author will be talking about next. In addition, The author wants readers to know he is

a reliable source to give information of China and their wine. Accordingly, the word choice Tony

Perrottet utilizes on the article helps the readers believe he is a wine lover that knows what he is

talking about. For examples, he states, “The first sip is a surprise-crisp and bright, with subtle

nectarine flavors.” The high level vocabulary to describe the taste of the wine makes the

audience believe that the author knows what he is saying. Not only does he seem to know wine,

but the description of the taste seems to be a positive connotation of the high quality taste the

wine has. This demonstrates how Tony Perrottet knows his wine and be trusted of the great

quality taste China’s wine has. The author’s diction is an important factor to inform and persuade

the readers, so the author gave a positive connotation and comparisons, like allusions, to help

persuade the audience. For example, Tony Perrottet alludes to the New World by saying, “But if

the quality is consistent, China can overcome its poor image, she suggests, as New World wine

have.” This restates a marketing business woman for wine, Chan, that hoped the wine marketing
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in China will continue to evolve and progress over the years. The diction and statements from

experts of the wine and caviar industry helped Tony Perrottet support his reasoning and perhaps

persuade the audience to try China’s produce, specifically the wine and caviar. In, Bloomberg

Pursuits, the article states how China surpassed Russia from being the best caviar, Kate Krader

(2017) claims, “It’s now the caviar of choice for 21 of the 26 Michelin three-starred restaurants

in Paris, including Alain Ducasse at the Plaza Athénée Hotel.” This proves how Tony Perrottet

was not just doing a great job on the word choice but on the statistics and ethics as well. The

excerpt from Bloomberg Pursuits was written in 2017, therefore, China’s progress is still

continuing to improve and help the the article Made in China not just be opinionated but factual

as well.

Furthermore, this article utilizes ethos to persuade the audience that the information he

gives is reliable and true. Since this article is a travel writing genre, it helps the readers be

intrigued in the success of China in the wine and caviar market. Moreover, the author talking

about his own experience makes this article more trustworthy due to the personal experience

instead of simply having the author just do research behind a computer and not entirely know the

feeling or taste of going to China and trying their caviar and wine. He gives in detail of his

traveling experience in China so the audience can know he is a reliable source to the information

he gives throughout his article For instance, Tony Perrottet claims that going to China and trying

their fine wine will not be a regret by stating, “After visiting Changyu, it is easy to understand

why the arrival of smaller producers causes such relief and excitement among China’s wine

lovers.” This helps the author support his claim by talking about his own experience, making him

a reliable source. Similarly, the use of the author's personal experience helps persuade readers

since the trip can be seen as a review about China’s caviar and wine to someone who wants to do
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the same but needs the feedback on the trip before beginning to plan on going. For example,

Perrottet mentions a restaurant he visited when he traveled to China and explained, “At Sir Elly’s

Restaurant at the five-star Peninsula Shanghai, if you order the selection of caviars, three will be

Chinese.” This demonstrates how in his personal experience when he visited China, Chinese

caviar was known and served in a high class restaurant. Thus, the personal experience proves

that it helps the author be more trustworthy than a person who only did research and never did

the experience themselves. Another example of Tony Perrottet demonstrating ethos in Made in

China, is the counter argument he makes to show his claim can be argued but can later prove the

argument wrong so he can persuade the audience his claim is better . For instance, the author

argues, “‘Made in China’ label is even more severe when it comes to food, thanks to the scandals

that have become staple of international news since 2008…” and later on the article he quotes

Chef Florian Trento commenting, “‘The quality is excellent, the industry is well-regulated, the

farms are sustainable.’” This counter argument helps the authors claim by stating a negative

situation that lead to a stereotype of the food produced in China, but then argued the opposing

claim with a chef commenting a positive and up to date quote of the fine produce of China,

backing up the authors true claim. Even though the counter argument is correct on the statistics

of China being polluted and known to have contaminated food, according to Food Supply and

Food Safety Issues in China, “ ...we identified important factors limiting agricultural production

in China, including conversion of agricultural land to other uses, freshwater deficits, and soil

quality issues” (Lam, Hon-Ming, 2013). This article was created by experts on food safety and

they mention how China is being contaminated due to the environment but later mention the

improvement China made over the years, “...the country’s demographic transition is being

accompanied by rapid economic growth and a nutritional transition involving increased

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consumption of animal products and edible oils” (Lam, Hon-Ming, 2013). This information

helps Tony Perrottet in Made in China since it helps the audience realize that the author was not

just be opinionated and persuasive but also correct on using statistics and ethics.

The logos the author used in his essay was mostly to back up his argument. However,

there was some outdated statistics that he used to help argue towards it. For example, Tony

Perrottet mentions how in 2013 thousands of chickens were slaughtered for the fear of bird flu

and arrests were occurring for passing rat and and mink meat as lamb. This does not exactly

support his claim of how the safety and progress of China, but giving the example of caviar and

wine from China being successful worldly helps back up his claim. In addition, the persuasion of

wine and caviar being great in China informs the readers that their produce in general has

improved and not contaminated. For instance, he states, “China is now the world’s eighth-largest

wine producer…” This is a statistic that the author gave to let the audience know he is not just

giving his opinion but also stating facts of where China’s caviar and wine stands world wide.

Hence, Made in China, by Tony Perrottet is a persuasive article that utilizes imagery,

ethos, and diction to inform the reader of the fine wine and caviar China has triumphantly

produced. The author not only informs and persuades the audience of the China’s industry, but

he also accomplishes to break the stereotype of China having to have bad quality food due to

their environment. The news of the food in China being threatening to human health was old

news, therefore, the author wants to update and inform readers of the progress and success their

food was made, including the fine wine and caviar. Even though the article might be for the

wealthy middle aged men or women that can afford the fine wine and caviar that China produce,
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the article demonstrates how China’s food safety can also be improved from past years and the

wine and caviar can just be examples of the good quality China produced and not contaminated.

Works Cited

Lam, Hon-Ming, et al. “Food Supply and Food Safety Issues in China.” Lancet, U.S. National

Library of Medicine, 8 June 2013,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3888022/#!po=16.4286.

Krader, Kate. “The World's Best Caviar Doesn't Come From Russia Anymore.” Bloomberg.com,
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Bloomberg, 19 Sept. 2017,

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-19/the-world-s-best-caviar-doesn-t-come-

from-russia-anymore.

Yang, Austin Ramzy And Lin. “Tainted-Baby-Milk Scandal in China.” Time, Time Inc., 16 Sept.

2008, content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1841535,00.html.