As for the origin of Chinese wine, there is a paragraph in the "Jiu Gao" written by Jiang Tong, a scholar of the Jin Dynasty: "The rise of wine originated from the emperor; or Yunyi Di, one named Du Kang. There is rice. If it is not exhausted, it will be left to empty mulberry leaves, which will become stale and become flavorful. It will store the fragrance for a long time. This is the origin and cannot be explained by a strange recipe."

Shanghuang: refers to the Fuxi, Suiren, and Shennong clans in ancient myths and legends.

Yi Di: Yi Di was a subordinate of Xia Yu, later than the emperor's era. "Shiben" has a saying that "Yidi began to make wine mash".

Du Kang: Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" says that he was the fifth monarch of the Xia Dynasty, Zhang Hua's "Natural History" says that he was the Jiuquan prefect of the Han Dynasty, and folklore says that he was the royal palace of the Zhou Dynasty. winemaker. The current academic view is that Du Kang may have been a famous winemaker between Zhou and Qin.

This passage says that the origin of wine is due to the leftovers being poured into the mulberry forest, where the food stagnated, and over time it turned into wine, rather than being invented by someone.

So how and when is wine made? There are several theories as follows:

1. Yi Di made wine

Yi Di was a subordinate of Xia Yu. It is said in "Shiben" that "Yi Di began to make wine mash". "Lu Shi Chun Qiu" written in the second century BC says: "Yi Di makes wine." Liu Xiang's "Warring States Policy" of the Han Dynasty said: "In the past, the emperor's daughter ordered Yi Di to make wine and make it beautiful. When it came to Yu, Yu drank it and enjoyed it, saying: 'There will be people in the future who drink and perish.' So I dismissed Yi Di. And the ultimate wine."

However, the "Huangdi Neijing" has records of Huangdi discussing "decoction and fermentation" with the physician Qi Bo, and "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" affirms that wine existed in the Shennong era, which was earlier than Xia Yu of Yidi. era.

2. Dukang Winemaking

Another legend holds that winemaking began with Dukang, who was also from the Xia Dynasty. The entry explaining the word "wine" in "Shuowen Jiezi" of the Eastern Han Dynasty includes: "Dukang made rice wine." "Shiben" also has the same statement. "Dukang makes wine"

After Cao Cao's chant "How can only Du Kang relieve his worries?" Du Kang has become the inventor of wine in people's minds, and there are various legends.

Kangjiawei Village in Baishui County, Shaanxi Province, is said to be the birthplace of Dukang; Dukang Fan and Dukang River in Ruyang County, Henan Province are said to be the place where Dukang made wine; Shanghuang Ancient Spring in Huangdedi Village, Yichuan County, Henan Province is said to be the birthplace of Dukang. The spring where Dukang draws water to make wine.

3. Brewing began in the Huangdi period

Another legend shows that people began to make wine in the Huangdi period. The "Huangdi Neijing ·

Suwen" written in the Han Dynasty contains records of Huangdi discussing "decoction and fermented wine" with the physician Qi Bo. The "Huangdi Neijing" also mentions an ancient wine - fermented wine. Cheese is a sweet wine made from animal milk. However, the book "Huangdi Neijing" was written by later generations in the name of Huangdi, and its credibility has yet to be verified.

4. The discovery of wine in archeology

Archaeological discoveries show that winemaking existed as early as the Xia Dynasty (more than 4,000 years ago) or before the Xia Dynasty. This has been widely studied. Confirmed by archaeological facts.

1. Cishan Culture Period (7355-7235 years ago)

During the Cishan Culture Period, some pottery similar in shape to later wine vessels and a large amount of grains and grain-based wine making equipment were discovered. The odds are high.

2. Hemudu Culture Period (6000-7000 years ago)

Remains of pottery and crops were found, which provided the material conditions for making wine.

3. Sanxingdui Site (4800 BC to 2870 BC)

This site is located in Guanghan, Sichuan Province. A large number of pottery and bronze wine vessels were unearthed. There are cups, gobs, pots, etc.

4. Dawenkou Culture (4300 BC to 2400 BC)

The site is located in Ju County, Shandong Province. Among the more than 80 pieces of pottery buried with it, 25 are pure white. The white pottery is mainly a set of wine vessels, including a pot for storing wine, a pottery cup for warming wine, a pottery urn for pouring wine, and a cup for drinking.

Dawenkou cultural relics

5. Modern views on the origin of winemaking

1. Wine was originally a natural product

Human beings did not invent it Instead of drinking wine, I discovered wine. The main ingredient in wine is alcohol (the scientific name is ethanol), and many substances can be converted into alcohol in a variety of ways. The starch in the grains is gradually decomposed into sugar and alcohol under the action of enzymes secreted by microorganisms existing in nature, and is naturally transformed into grain wine. Fruit and milk are also easily converted into wine.

2. The earliest wine - fruit wine and milk wine

In ancient times, people mainly relied on gathering and hunting for food. The collected wild fruits contained high sugar content and were most easily fermented into wine. . Animal milk contains protein and lactose, which can also be easily fermented into wine. Ancient people who made a living by hunting might also accidentally obtain milk wine.

The Origin of Distilled Liquor

Using a special distiller to heat the liquor, due to the different volatilities of the substances contained in the liquor, during heating and distillation, in the steam and liquor , the relative contents of various substances are different. Alcohol (ethanol) is more volatile, so the alcohol concentration in the steam generated after heating increases, while the alcohol concentration in the wine decreases. After collecting the alcohol odor and cooling it, the alcohol content is much higher than that of the original wine. Generally, the alcohol content of brewed wine is less than 20.

Distilled liquor can be as high as 60 or more.

The distilled spirits familiar to modern people are divided into "baijiu" (also called "shochu"), "brandy", "whiskey", "vodka", "rum", etc.

Liquor: unique to China, distilled from grain alcohol

Brandy: distilled from wine

Whiskey: fermented and brewed from barley and other grains. Distilled

Rum: It is distilled from sugar cane liquor.

Compared with brewed wine, distilled wine has an additional distillation process in the manufacturing process, and the key is the distiller. The invention of the still is the condition for the origin of distilled wine, but it may also be used to distill other substances, such as spices, mercury, etc.

1. Distilled liquor originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty

The Shanghai Museum has a collection of bronze stills from the Eastern Han Dynasty. This still was used for distillation experiments, and distilled wine with an alcohol content of

26.6-20.4 was distilled. A similar bronze still was also unearthed in Chuzhou, Anhui. So some people think that distilled liquor existed in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

2. Distilled liquor originated in the Tang Dynasty

Shochu was mentioned in Bai Juyi (772-846)'s "The color of newly ripened lychees is the color of cockscombs, and the first bloom of shochu is amber light". Tao Yong has a poem: "Since I arrived in Chengdu to make wine, I never thought about myself and went to Chang'an." Some people think that the soju mentioned here is distilled liquor.

However, the method of making wine is recorded in "Touhuang Zalu" of the Tang Dynasty: "Drinking in the South is 'Ji Shao', that is, filling the jar with real wine, putting mud on it, and burning it with fire until it is cooked, otherwise you will not be able to drink it." ". It is obviously not a distilled liquor operation, so it is difficult to judge whether the shochu of the Tang Dynasty was distilled liquor.

3. Distilled liquor originated in the Song Dynasty

The "Alchemy Room Instructions" of the Song Dynasty described the distiller as a "mercury extractor"; Zhou Qufei of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote "Ling" in 1178. "Wai Dai Answer" records a kind of tool used by Guangxi people to practice "Yin Zhu". The basic structure is roughly the same as the description in "Instructions for the Alchemy Room"

; lt; lt by Zhang Shinan of the Southern Song Dynasty; Youhuan Jiwen gt;gt;Volume 5 records an example of a still used to distill flower dew. So distilled liquor may also have originated in the Song Dynasty.

4. Distilled liquor originated in the Yuan Dynasty

Li Shizhen, a medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty, wrote in lt;lt;Compendium of Materia Medicagt;gt;: "Shochu is not an ancient method. It has been made since the Yuan Dynasty. It was first invented at that time. The method is to use strong wine and grains, steam them, and use a vessel to collect Dettol. Any sour wine can be steamed. In recent times, glutinous rice, japonica rice, millet or barley can be steamed. Steam it from Puwa. It is as clear as water and has a very strong taste, which is pungent, sweet, very hot, and very poisonous. If you drink it, it will damage the stomach and gallbladder, and even lead to black intestines and stomach rot. Eating it with ginger and garlic can cause hemorrhoids. Salt, cold water, and mung bean powder can detoxify it."

"Dian Hai Yu Heng Zhi" written by Tan Cui of the Qing Dynasty said: "Gai Shaojiu, a famous wine dew, was introduced to China in the early Yuan Dynasty.

Chinese people drink Shaojiu everywhere." Zhang Mu's "Eating and Drinking" said: "Shochu is also called fire wine, and the "Yinshan Zhengyao" says 'Alaji'. It is also a foreign language (a foreign language - author's note), which means that this wine is not an ancient method. At the end of the year, people from Siam and the Netherlands began to spread his method to China." Whether it is our own invention or imported from abroad, distilled liquor should have originated in the Yuan Dynasty at the latest.

5. The origin of foreign distilled liquor (alcohol)

About the 12th century, people first made distilled liquor. The hard liquor distilled at that time was not for drinking, but as a combustible substance, or as a solvent, and later used in medicines. Most foreign distilled spirits are distilled from wine. From a time perspective, the 12th century AD is equivalent to the early Southern Song Dynasty in my country.