How long does Shaoxing Huangjiu exist?

A few days ago, a dealer of Shaoxing Huangjiu said that everyone knows that Huangjiu is one of the three ancient wines in the world. However, there are different views about the history of Shaoxing Huangjiu. Some say that Huangjiu has existed for more than 6000 years and some say that Huangjiu has existed for 2500 years. How long does Shaoxing Huangjiu exist?

First of all, let`s clarify two concepts. What is Shaoxing Wine? What is Shaoxing Huangjiu? In a general sense, Shaoxing wine is the synonym of Shaoxing Huangjiu. Thus, the history of Shaoxing Huangjiu is exactly the history of Shaoxing wine. The predecessor of Shaoxing Huangjiu is the Rice Wine. Therefore, we should review the history of rice wine.

Shaoxing Huangjiu is a prehistoric product, which has been proved by a lot of cultivated rice grains, leaves and pottery which were unearthed at the Hemudu Site of Yuyao (one of the Chinese civilization sites about 7000 years ago). The Hemudu Site, as a part of ancient Yue, is located in the east of Shaoxing. It is one of the Neolithic archaeological sites at which the most pottery was unearthed. And the recovery rate of the site is relatively high. The unearthed pottery is like a wine pot with a pipe mouth in the front and a trumpet-shaped mouth in the back, which are connected by flat half earrings. The inside and outside of the pot are smooth. In general, the wine pot is fine and it still has a high artistic appreciation value nowadays. Therefore, generally speaking, Shaoxing Huangjiu has a history of 6000 or 7000 years, which has been evidenced by the unearthed cultural relics of the Hemudu Site.

In history, it is written that wine was found during the reign of Goujian (the king of Yue) (about 490 B.C.) in the spring and Autumn period of the Zhou Dynasty. It is recorded in The National Language and Yue language that two bottles of wine and a dog were awarded if the baby was a boy. And two bottles of wine and a pig were awarded if the baby was a girl. According to the records, in the period of arousing all efforts to make the country prosperous, Huangjiu had become the highest prize of the country to encourage people to bear and rear better children. Therefore, it can be said that Shaoxing Huangjiu has a written history of more than 2500 years.

Huangjiu has a very long history. There are many theories about the origin of Huangjiu. Some say that Huangjiu was invented by Du kang. Some say that Huangjiu was invented by Yi Di. And some say that there are wine stars in the sky and wine springs on the ground. Jiang Tong of the Jin Dynasty said in A Written Admonition of Wine that the rice wine was invented by the King or Yi Di, or Du Kang. When there was some rice left over, people threw it into an empty area with mulberry trees. After a few days of natural fermentation, the rice smelled fragrant and had the flavor of wine.

Therefore, it can be said that the five-thousand-year civilization history of China is immersed in wine.