In Chinese the word for alcohol "jiu" is used to mean all types of alcoholic beverages， from 'pijiu' (beer) to liquors (just called 'jiu') to grape wine ('putao jiu') The same character is used in Japanese and Korean， for that This lumping together of all intoxicating beverages gives us great insight into the traditional use for alcohol， Even in modern China alcoholic beverages are generally classed by the general population by how much intoxication it delivers for the From this point of view table wine is at the bottom rung of the consumer preference list， with brandy being much Wine was firstly recorded in the book of “SHI JI” ( which means historic record ) written by Si M 138 BC the emperor sent Zhangqian to Western Regions for a diplomatic mission， he was surprised to see people there make wine from grapes and rich people stocked Because Western Regions is part of ancient China， this record shows that people in HAN dynasty had learned how to grow grapes and make wine from our neighboring The book “EXCAVATION DISCOVERY IN TULUFAN” records how people in TULUFAN grow grapes and do wine business in 4-8 It also shows that wines were made in large quantity at this period of After Zhangqian came back from West Regions， he introduced grape growing and winemaking skills to the central C Wine soon became precious products for up class There is an interesting story in HAN dynasty which tells how Meng Boliang， a rich person was given a position of provincial governor by bribing a minister with a bottle of Su Shi， a famous Chinese poet said in his poem that some generals with medals were not given a position， how can a bottle of wine make a ordinary person to be a This is the charm of TANG dynasty is a golden age of winemaking history， because winemaking skills were known by ordinary people at this Many poems were written by famous poets to praise When girls got married， Wines were part of presents to their HU minority people opened wine shops in capital city Changan to sell wines from Western R Large quantity of wine products were sold on the market in YUAN “MACO POLO TRAVELOGUE” said that there were many vineyards in Taiyuan of Shanxi People made a lot of wines and sent them to different places to A poem popular at that time said that I am from Shanxi， I grow grape like jade， then make it into wine， to quench people It shows that local people took grape growing and winemaking as something great that they were proud The rulers of YUAN dynasty loved wines and they ordered that wines must be used for sacrifice Good vineyards were built in Taiyuan of Shanxi and Nanjing of J Some wine cellars were built in imperial In MING dynasty， famous doctor Li Shizhen mentioned winemaking skills and wine medical value in his book “PEN-TS’AO KAN-MU” He said that wine is good for people’s health and “NONG ZHENG QUAN SHU”， a book about agriculture written by Xu Guangqi， recorded some grape varieties people grew at that time which are: crystal grape (brown with white tinge， big berry and sweet)， purple grape ( black， big or small， sweet or sour)， green grape ( grown in Sichuan， look like rabbit eyes， sweeter than honey)， Suosuo grape ( small like pepper) China， the history of wine is longer than that of In 1986， a pot of wine excavated in Henan Province was found to have been made more than 3，000 years China has many famous brands of wine——Maotai， Five-Grain Liquor， Fen Liquor， Bamboo-Leaf-Green Liqueur， Luzhou Liquor， Gujing Tribute Wine， Rice Wine， Zhangyu Grape Wine， and Grape Wine of the Great Wall——that enjoy a worldwide There are more stories about wine in Chinese Tao Yuanming， a poet in the Jin Dynasty， could not live without wine for a The great poet Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty could "write 100 poems after drinking wine";the more wine he drank， the better the poem would Wu Song， a brave man from Liangshan in the Song Dynasty， drank 18 bowls of wine without a break， and then， barehanded， fought a fierce tiger to the At the 1915 Panama World Exposition， China wanted to display Maotai， but the American organizers did not think the yellow porcelain bottle was very attractive and refused to allow the spirit to be The Chinese delegation was very As they were quarreling strongly， a Chinese delegate， having a sudden flash of inspiration， deliberately dropped a bottle of Maotai on the Immediately the bottle was broken， the spirit was sprayed， and the whole room was filled with an exceptional Delegates of all countries were Finally， Maotai was appraised as a "World Famous Brand"， winning a golden _Knowledge/China_culture/200806/t20080630_shtml
4: Chinese Distilled Spirits Chinese spirits have been distilled mainy from fermented Other types of distilled drinks also include brandy made from the fermented grape wine and whisky from 1 Classification of Modern Chinese Spirits In ancient times， the distilled alcoholic drinks were called "Shao Jiu" or "Gao Liang Jiu" in Chinese After the founding of People's Republic of China， the term `Chinese Spirit' replaced the old names 'Shao Jiu' and 'Sorghum Spirit' used widely Because of the varieties of raw-materials used and different processes adopted in the production of spirits from place to place， each type of distilled spirit has its distincted aroma and flavor feature， the classification of spirits are Systems for Classifying Chinese Spirits ┌— According to Qu used in Fermentation │ │ ├— According to the Types of Aroma and Flavour │ │ ├— According to the Fermentation States Chinese—┤ Spirits │ ├— According to the Quality │ │ ├— According to the Ethanol Content │ │ └— According to the Raw M1 Classification according to the Qu usedAs mentioned previously， Qu is a kind of saccharifying andfermenting agent for The Qu has a singnificant impact on the aroma and flavour of 1 Da Qu spirit Da Qu， as the saccharifying and fermenting agent， was used in the fermentation of The raw materials for Da Qu mainly are wheat and/or barley mixed with There are three types of Da Qu according to the incubation temperature during their cultivation: medium teperature Da Qu， high temperature Da Qu， and super-high temperature Da Q they are incubated normally in a solid Most of Da Qu spirits are of fine quality， so the most famous spirits in China nearly are all manufactured with Da Qu as the saccharifying and the fermenting Sichuang Province， Gui Zhou Province， Sanxi Province， Shanxi Province and JIangsu Province have been traditional productioncenters of Da Qu 2 XIAO Qu Spirit Xiao Qu is a type of saccharifying and fermenting agent made from rice， and the raw material for Xiao Qu spirits is also rice grain， and the fermentation is conducted in semi-solid Most of XIAO Qu spirits are produced and consumed in South C3 Fu Qu Spirit The so called Fu Qu is a type of mold cultured in solid medium using bran as the raw The process of Fu Qu spirits was developed from the advanced "Yantai Spirit Process" after the founding of the People's Republic of C Aspergillus and yeasts are grown in pure culture respectively， and inoculated to cooked or steamed raw The production process is characterized by short fermentation time and low production Fu Qu spirits are the most popular distilled drinks for the common people because of their low The output of Fu Qu spirit is the biggest in C4 Other types of distilled spirits Some famous spirits are produced with both Da Qu and Xiao Q For example， the semi-solid mash fermented with Xiao Qu is distilled， and the resulting hot vapours pass through the solid-state fermenting grain by Da Qu (called "flavorous fermenting grains)， so the mixture hot vapours are collected as potable 2 Classification according to spirit's aroma and flavour types This classification system is based on the major aroma and flavour And it is used for classifying spirits in the appraisal of the distilled spirit quality organized by the government 1 Maotai-flavor spirit Maotai Spirit， manufactured in Maotai， Gui Zhou Province， has beenone of the most famous spirit since the begining of this So the Maotai-flavour has been recognized as a typical It is called soy sauce flavor The main characteristics of this type's spirits are gentle and soy sauce Its fermentation technique is the most complex， and Da Qu used in the production process mostly is the super high temperature Da Q2 Luzhou-flavor spirit Luzhou-flavour spirit has been the most acceptable distilled spirit in C Among the well-known distilled spirits， the output of Luzhou flavor type's spirits is the Spirits produced in Sichuan Province， Jiangsu Province and other areas belong to this Luzhou-flvor Luzhou-flavour spirit is also called "Highly Flavor Type Spirit" "Luzhou Spirit" manufactured by Luzhou Distillery， Sicuang Province has been accepted as a classical Its features are highly flavored， sweet and The raw materials are mainly Chinese Sorghum combined with wheat， barley， and The production process are characterized by cyclic fermentation of the mixture of newly added grains with old fermented grains， the complex process of distillation of the fermenting grain combined with the process of cooking of newly added grains， and the characterized fermentation vessels (old fermentation pit)3 Fen-flavor spirit Fen-flavor spirit is a type of light flavor Fen spirit produced by Xinghua Cun Fenjiu Corporation， Shanxi Province is recognized as the representative of this Its aroma and flavour characteristics are summerized as light aroma and flavor， a pure and refreshingly smooth， sweet taste， and mellow with lingering aromatic The manufacture process is characterized by fermenting the grains in ceramic pots half mounted beneath the After the fermenting grains is distilled， the distilled grain is refermented once more， then refermented grain is the collected spirits from the first distillation process and the second distillation process are aged the spent grain after second distillation is used as 4 Rice flavor spirit Rice-flavour spirits are distilled spirit made from rice with XiaoQu ( rice Qu) as saccharifying and fermenting Their productionareas have been centered in South C "Shanhua Spirit" produced by Guilin Beverage Plant， Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is the typical representative， Its flavour is characterized by elegant sweet aroma， smooth on entering the mouth and refreshing in 5 Other-flavor spirits In the National Appraisals of Alcoholic Beverages， Some distilled spirits whose character aroma and flavour are temporarily difficult to be identified are called Other-flavour Spirit in which a number of National Famous Spirits are the main representatives are "Xifeng Spirit" produced in Xifeng Distillery， Shanxi Province， "Dong Spirit" by Dongjiu Distillery of Zunyi City， Guizhou P Their aroma and flavor are different from each The production techniques combined together some techniques used in Maitai Distilery， Luzhou Distillery and Xinghua Cun Fenjiu C3 Classification According to the Production P1 Spirits Produced by Solid-state Fermentation The most widely used production process for distilled spirits issolid-state fermentation with the moisture content of fermenting grainscovering about 60% The Da Qu spirit， Fu Qu spirit and Xiao Qu spirit are produced in this Most high quality spirits must be produced insolid-state It takes longer fermentation time to obtainhigh quality 2 Spirits Produced by Semi-solid State FermentationTraditionally， the semi-solid state fermentation wea used widelyfor production of rice The spirits is just distilled from the semi-solid state fermented Most spirits produced from rice grainin South China are produced in this 3 Spirits Produced by Liquid State Fermentation The production process is similar with the process for alcohol production， but is combined with some traditional The quality of the spirit produced in this procedure is lower than that produced in solid-state In some distilleries， aromatic yeast is added to the fermentation mash to remedy this 4 Spirits produced by solid- state fermented grain combinedwith liquid or semi-solid state fermented mash In this way， usually the fermenting grains in solid state is placed on the perforated plate inside the steamer， and the liquid state fermented mash is placed in the cauldron above which the steameris During distillation， the hot vapour resulting from theliquid-state mash pass through the upper layers of fermented grain and some aromatic components in it is 5 Liqueurs Liqueurs are manufactured by blending edible alcohol with flavoring substances， and specially prepared blending 4 The classification according to the quality Tthe central government has organized five "National Appraisals ofAlcoholic Beverages for the representative products of all the provinces， autonomous regions and municipalities since For example， In the first appraisal held in 1953， eight kinds of alcoholic beverages(including Chinese spirits， rice wine， beer and wines) were awarded the title" Natioal Famous Drink" ( top quality) drink) The title "National Fine-Quality Drinks" was awarded to other higher quality 1 National Famous Drinks Maotai Spirit， Fen Spirit， Luzhou Spirit and Wuliangyie Spirit all are recognized as National Famous Spirits in five national spirit's appraisal 2 National Fine- Quality S3 The Fine Quality Spirits recognized by Provinces and State D4 Normal Spirits Most of spirits are normal which have a low price and are welcome by common And some of them also are of high 5 Classification According to the Alcoholic C1 Spirits with High Alcohol Concent This kind of spirits were traditionally produced and consumed inlarge quantities in the North China where it is Their alcohol content is more than 41% (v/v)， and most of them are higher than 50%(v/v) but less than 65% (v/v)2 Spirits with Low Alcohol Content This kind of spirits are manufactured with the dilluting technique to low alcohol The alcohol content is about 38% (v/v)， and some is about 20% (v/v)
