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March 12, 2020

Jiafan Wine Brewed with an Increased (Jia) Amount of Rice (Fan)

Jiafan wine is the best-quality variety of Shaoxing yellow rice wine. Compared with Yuanhong, Jiafan is made with less water and more rice. Hence its name. Featuring higher concentration and greater alcohol content, it has an especially mellow and thick flavor, commonly known as as thick as meat broth'. Having a color resembling amber, this exceptionally fragrant, mellow and crystal-clear wine has won the favor of wine drinkers at home and abroad. W hen we speak of Shaoxing yellow rice wine, we generally refer to this variety.

March 12, 2020

Origin of Yuanhong Wine

Yuanhong wine is the staple variety of Shaoxing yellow rice wine. It takes its name after the red paint commonly covering the exteriors of wine jars. Though most of the wine producers in Shaoxing have replaced the red paint with white paint, the name has lasted. However, there are a few wine factories which still adhere to the traditional practice. Among them there is Nverhong Wine Company.

March 12, 2020

Name of Xiangxue Wine

In 1912, Wu Ahui with Yunji Workshop at Dongpu Township, Shaoxing County made a jar of Shaoxing yellow rice wine with glutinous rice, yeast and heated dregs. Having adopted a special technique drastically different from the traditional one, he applied only white yeast instead of the usual malt which increases the color of the liquid. Finally he got a new variety of yellow rice wine, whose dregs were as white as snow. In the meantime, distilled grain liquor in stead of water became something similar to Shanniang wine. The liquid looked brightly yellowish, smelt elegantly

March 12, 2020

Legend of Huadiao

As the specialty of Shaoxing, Shaoxing yellow rice wine is closely related to the long-standing customs in Shaoxing people's life, featuring simplicity, kindness and purity. These customs cover all aspects of their life, such as wedding, funeral, birthdays, holidays, agriculture, commerce, daily life, temple occasions etc. In all these different customs, wine plays an important role. The best containing vessel for Shaoxing yellow rice wine is pottery jar. The common ones of these jars can hold about 23-24kg Shaoxing yellow rice wine, and the largest about 45kg. Accordin

March 11, 2020

How the 'Daughter's Red' Got Its Name

It was a convention in Shaoxing that every family made some wine for themselves in winter. In so doing, not only was money saved, but also some fine and delicious wine could be made. Long long ago, there lived a well-off squire surnamed Gao outside Chang an Gaten Shaoxing. Pitifully, he had no son to inherit his wealth. Being anxious, he and his wife often paid visits to temples, praying to deities, or called on doctors to ask for their advice. It was not until middle age that his wife finally conceived a baby. Overjoyed, the squire wanted

March 10, 2020

On the Naming of Shaoxing Yellow Rice Wine

In ancient times, Shaoxing yellow rice wine was named in many ways, either after the place it was produced, or after something related, or after relevant anecdotes or stories. To sum it up, it names may be classified into the following types: I. Lao. As recorded in History of Kuaiji compiled in the years of Jiatai in the Song Dynasty, `Goujian, the King of Yue, boosted the morale of his troops by sharing with them the wine poured into a river and eventually accomplished over lordship.' History of the Spring and Autumn Period by Lu Buwei wr

March 10, 2020

The origin of wine

As far as the origin of wine is concerned, the author prefer the fourth theory that wine started with dirty rice fermented in a hollow mulberry tree. Only in a relatively developed agricultural society when rice or other grains became people's staple food and there was a surplus in their production could wine come into being: unconsciously, people put leftovers in mulberry hollows, where sorghum, rice or wheat, when mixed together and affected by the natural yeasts in the air, turned into wine. As quoted by Song scholar Zhu Gong fro

March 06, 2020

Types of wine jars

In the past, jars holding Shaoxing yellow rice wine were not only fine vessels storing wine, but also great handicrafts embodying wine culture. Usually, they can be classified into two types.The most common one without any decoration, as described above, is painted with white wash and sealed with mud. Jars of this type are often produced in large numbers.What distinguish this type of jars are their reticence, primitiveness and simplicity.Jars of this kind can be easily carried around in nets fabricated with bamboo splits or hemp ropes or red cloth straps. Therefore, the

March 06, 2020

The packaging of Shaoxing yellow rice wine

Fastidious care has been given to the packaging of Shaoxing yellow rice wine. First, the jars to be filled should be washed clean and dried. Then their exteriors are painted with whitewash, which makes the containers not only pleasing to the eye, but also has a sterilizing effect. After the whitewash dries up, it is imprinted with marks indicating the producer, type, weight, batch number and production date. Before the jars are filled, both the jars and the old wine are steamed to disinfect. Then the jars are covered with lotus leaves (to give them a faint scent) at the

March 06, 2020

Where were wine jars produced?

According to The Thrice Updated Annals of Zhuji County during the Qing Dynasty, 'all jars of Shaoxing yellow rice wine are produced in Zhuji`. Zhuji wine jars, being hard and permeable by air, are suitable for long storage of yellow rice wine and add to the mellowness of yellow rice wine as it is cached longer after production. This is especially true for Shaoxing Jiafan wine (high-quality yellow rice wine made with increased amounts of grain). Having Jiafan wine stored in Zhuji jars for more than 3 year years may enable the nutrients in the wine including amino acids t

March 05, 2020

Jars for Shaoxing Yellow Rice Wine

In Chapter 70 of his Flowers in the Mirror, Ming novelist Li Ruzhen wrote, 'Every time I went overseas, I always brought a lot of Shaoxing yellow rice wine with me. Even though I did not return for ages, I could drown my loneliness with it. The jars used to hold the wine, after emptied, were put casually in the boat cabin, which gradually made an enormous pile. I had never expected that the luck with wealth would find me when I drifted to the Tall Men's Land, and that I could make a fortune there of these empty jars. Later, when I travelled to the Little Men's Land, I p

March 05, 2020

State Administration': the Soul of Yellow Rice Wine

`As the heaven revolves, the gentleman should improve himself?` 'A person who suffers from any difficulties such as pain, tiredness, hunger, poverty will become talented, alert and steadfast and capable of taking great responsibility.' Confucianism stresses self-cultivation and proposes that everyone should make it their goal to `organize the family, father the state and conquer the world.' Confucians think that people are bound by values to contribute their talents and intelligence to society and the public and that they should not fear hardships and hazards, but forge

March 05, 2020

The yellowness Conducive to Health Preservation

Yellow rice wine is essential an alcoholic beverage. Traditional Chinese medicine has long studied the relations between the colors of foods and health preservation. The five colors of foods are associated with the five major internal organs: red with the heart, green with the liver, yellow with the spleen, white with the lungs, and black with the kidneys. 'Yellow' foods are the fairly common in our daily life, of which the most common include soybeans, yellow rice, corn etc. Nutritious and cheap, they play an important role in peop

March 04, 2020

The Yellowness Given by Brewing Techniques

As a result of their brewing techniques, wines brewed with grain, especially wheat, as yeast will turn 'yellow', then gradually to brown or filemot as they are stored longer. Current data indicate that the word 'yellow' first appeared in the names of wines during the Ming Dynasty. However, we may trace their origin farther back to the expression 'yellow liquid' in a line in the Book of Poems-- `In the shinning jade goblet, there is yellow liquid'. Of the various interpretations of 'yellow liquid', there is one, saying that, in remote antiquity, tulips were steeped in wi

March 04, 2020

The 'Golden Mean': Character of Yellow Rice Wine

The Doctrine of the Mean writes, 'The mean is just God's will. And harmony is a most comprehensive way in world.' Confucianism has always associated the 'mean' with 'harmony' and advocated 'the utmost value of harmony' and universal harmony'. The principle of the mean is the one impartial and always practicable. Not only a principle of ethics, but also an approach to interpersonal interaction or communication, it has been exerting ubiquitous influences on the Chinese people's life. The renowned 'softness and mellowness' of yellow ri

March 04, 2020

Scientific Value of Shaoxing Yellow Rice Wine

1. Wine was discovered by accident. However, people's conscious brewing of wine is a labor practice which reflects from one aspect the level of productivity at that time. It is a general belief that the wine industry started with surplus grain. As legend has it, once Dukang, `Discoverer of Wine', kept some surplus food in a tree hole, where the food fermented and gave out a fragrant smell. This was how wine originated and no magical formula was involved in the process. Though wine was initially created by Nature and discovered by accident,

March 03, 2020

Wine and People's Life

As a means of expression, wine is also an indicator of people's life. Some call it a thing of the highest grade, some think it excellent, some consider it valuable, some look on it as a proper tribute, and some regard it as a fast-selling commodity that brings considerable profits... With the changes of times, the advances of society, and the constant improvement of people's life, Chinese people's consumption has evolved from meeting the needs of life sustenance to enjoying life. This change may be proved by the rapid expansion of consumer groups of various alcoholic dr

March 03, 2020

Wine and Socializing

Wine plays an important adhesive role in social communications. As the Chinese saying goes, 'For a congenial friend a thousand toasts are too few; in a disagreeable conversation one word more is too many.' Making toasts is a way of expressing friendliness. As another saying goes, `In order to make friends, often make toasts.' Wine has an intrinsic relationship with socializing and drinking wine provides us with an opportunity to make friends. Wine can serve as a lubri

March 03, 2020

Wine and Economy

Being a commodity with high added value, wine has injected vigor into economy. Now that wine drinking is a very common social activity undertaken by a wide range of consumer groups, wine brewery has always been a highly lucrative industry.In ancient times, running a wine shop promised profits that kept rolling in; many commercial giants were made in the trade. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Gou, the Emperor, took refuge from the invasion of the Jin Dynasty in Shaoxing. In order to cover his huge expenses, he promulgated policies to grant strong support for the wine

March 03, 2020

Wine and Celebrities

The union between wine and poetry has a long history. Serving as obvious cases in point are the famous lines by great Tang poet Du Fu praising Li Bai, (.e. `Li Bai can compose a hundred poems with one goblet of wine', 'when can we review poems again/with a goblet of wine at hand? , and 'with an agile mind, he has composed hundreds of poems/drifting all over, he has but one wine goblet`), and Ouyang Xiu's famous quotation that 'I enjoy the views of the sky, the ground, the mountains and the rivers, all because of wine'. This has revealed to us a truth that, being a produ

March 02, 2020

Wine and Military

As is of my humble opinion, wine can also be used to inspire soldiers in the course of mobilization. Whether in ancient times or now, wine has been closely connected with war. Before an expedition, soldiers drink wine to bolster morale; having returned triumphantly, soldiers drink wine to celebrate their victory. As Lu Lun writes in a poem, `banquets are thrown in the wilderness, to treat the soldiers who have routed the Qiang people; intoxicated, the soldiers clad in shimmering armors began to dance, with thundering drums rocking m

March 02, 2020

Wine and Politics

The Confucian theory of 'rule by ritual' has resulted directly in wine's being used as a political drink. Rites must be implemented in political practice; and a state power has to be maintained by two means: one civil and the other martial. As The 13th Year in the Reign of Chenggong in Zuo Zhuan puts it, 'ceremony and war are two maters of vital importance for a nation.' In ancient China, sacrificial ceremonies were exemplary occasions on which emperors reinforced their rule by ritual over subjects; they

March 02, 2020

What Is Wine?

What is wine? To this we can reply without a second thought: an alcoholic beverage fermented of materials containing starch or sugar such as grain and fruits. However, if the question is rephrased in another way- what wine is? - then we will surely have to wrestle over it longer and the answer we provide will certainly be vastly different. Wine is a special thing open to multiple interpretations: First, it is by nature a material, a mixed

February 21, 2020

How to keep comfortable after drinking?

Drunk people may have a headache and feel uncomfortable next day. The reaction is common after people drink white liquor, red wine, Huangjiu, sake, fruit wine or even beer with the low alcohol content. How to keep comfortable after drinking? This is a question worthy of discussion. I think there are mainly two reasons why people feel uncomfortable after drinking. The first one is related to the wine itself, and the other one is related to the way of drinking. First of all, let's talk about th

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