A chocolate-themed village in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, is becoming increasingly popular as a tourist destination. It was set up by Mo Xuefeng, a self-described chocolate fan. He was born in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, where his father runs a successful packaging company, and he was expected to join his father’s business when he grew up. But the younger Mo secretly dreamed of doing something else. “I’ve loved eating chocolate since I was a little boy. But I knew that my parents and their friends did not have much chocolate to eat when they were young, and it had never been a big deal in their lives,” he said. Mo now runs Aficion Chocolate Village, a confectionary-themed tourism resort in the township of Dayun, Jiaxing. The facility features all things chocolate – from a chocolate factory and tasting booths to venues popular for wedding photos. As it is only about 100 kilometers from Shanghai and Hangzhou, the village draws huge crowds from surrounding areas. During the May Day holiday alone the village attracted more than 50,000 visitors.
After graduating from university in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, Mo went on to earn an advanced degree in finance from Boston University in the United States. He visited many chocolate factories and museums across the world, from Mexico and Belgium to Pennsylvania in the United States, and the idea of building a chocolate village started taking shape. “I wanted to create a chocolate village that not only makes chocolate but also welcomes visitors for village tours to appreciate chocolate culture,” he said.
Mo said that chocolate is healthy and that he wanted to promote it in China where “the chocolate culture was yet to be explored” and “many chocolate names were relatively unknown compared to foreign brands”. Things were not that easy at the beginning, when Mo wanted to start realizing his dream. “There was nobody to learn from because there were no chocolate villages in China as far as I knew,” he said. “I contacted a designer, but the designer did not know what I wanted at all.” In July 2012, Mo decided to settle his chocolate village where he grew up in the township of Dayun and named it Aficion Chocolate Village. As one of the biggest chocolate-themed villages in Asia, Aficion centers on chocolate-making research and development (R&D), while also offering recreational activities such as village tours and experiencing chocolate-making, among others. To make the best chocolate, Mo bought equipment from Switzerland and selects quality raw materials from around the world. The village started making chocolate under the Aficion brand in February 2014, and the tourist attraction officially opened to the public later that year. “We do not just want to be a chocolate maker,” Mo said. “We want to spread chocolate culture and promote chocolate-based tourism.” Mo said, as reported by the China Daily.
