History of Chinese Wine

Chinese wine is one of the six world-famous varieties of spirits ( brandy, whisky, rum, vodka, and gin ). It was firstly recorded in the book of Shi Ji by Sima Qian in China.

It was said that Zhang Qian brought back the grape growing and wine making skills form the West Region after he finished the diplomatic mission for the Han Emperor.

But some drinking vessels have been found from the Neolithic Yangshao Culture Sites, from Yuchi Temple in south China’s Anhui Province and from King Zhongshan tomb at Pinshan in Herbei Province. And the liquid in the vessels proved technically something like wine.

Wine culture has quite a long history, and developed from one dynasty to another with four main possible varyings. In the Tang Dynasty winemaking skills were known by ordinary people, so wine making had its golden age. In the Yuan Dynasty, as Maco Polo Travelogue described, there were many vineyards in Taiyuan of Shanxi Province. There is a wellknown poem to describe the win products then.

When asking the cowboy for a tavern,

He pointed at a distant village with apricot blossoms.

In the Ming Dynasty, Li Shizhen mentioned in his book Compendium of Materia Medica that wine is good for people’s health and skin.

The most famous brand is Maotai in Guizhou Province and this holds the title of the “Nnational Liquor”. It is said that an empty bottle that was once filled with Maotai will emanate its fragrance after a few days. There are also other excellent brands such as Wulianggye and Luzhou Tequ.

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