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 from Origin of Chinese Characters, if wine is white, it is called sou (sour); sou also means spoiled food or old. When food becomes too old, it is sour; if it is not sour, wine will not be sweet.' Zhu`s description coincides not only with the fermentation process of wine, but also with the actual situation of wine brewing. As a matter of fact, in the Qing Dynasty, there was a scholar called Jiang Tong who wrote an essay entitled Warning against Wine, in which he gives an adequate description as to how wine came into being. He says, 'Wine gained popularity during the reigns of the legendary emperors. Some say its inventor was Yidi; others assert it was Dukang. In fact, wine started when leftovers were put into mulberry hollows, where they fermented and, as time went by, came to give out a fragrant smell. This was how wine originated. No magical recipe was involved.' As discussed above, it is a complex process that grain brews and produces wine. Wine could only have come into being in the long course of people's production and life, and in a historical period when agriculture was considerably developed. This is in line with the principle that material is primary.