China claims it gave the world pasta, gunpowder, the umbrella and paper, reports USA Today. Scholars there say the Chinese were golfing before the Scots and roaming the New World before Columbus.

Two years ago, archaeologists came across evidence that led to another claim: China may have been the first to make wine. Wine historians generally regard the Middle East as the region where wine originated.

Today, China is determined to join the ranks of France , Italy , the USA , Chile , Australia and other great winemaking nations. Five hundred wineries, most of them less than 10 years old, have sprung up around the country.

Forty miles northwest of Beijing , along grasslands within view of the Great Wall, French winemaker Nicolas Billot-Grima oversees the harvest of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and marselan grapes at the Sino-French Demonstration Vineyard.

A joint venture of the French and Chinese governments, it is intended to build interest in wine and serve as a showcase for traditional French winemaking techniques.

In six years, "we have changed stones into gold," says Billot-Grima, a sixth-generation winemaker who splits his time between China and Laroche Pipeau, the family chateau in Bordeaux, France.

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