Guo Junlu

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Not a single critical step has been dropped: in core stages such as manual starter making and solid-state fermentation, experienced veteran masters have always been retained to exercise manual control. Within the regional tradition and school record of Laochencuniangzhijiyi in Taiyuan, Shanxi: By school, Meiheju belongs to the northern lineage built on smoking-steaming and ice-sunning; it is connected with the ideas of smoking the cupei (fermented grain), percolating, and aging in the Qingxu area, yet each has its own practice. Guo Junlu and chief brewer Ren Ligen held firm to pure-grain brewing without wavering, introducing equipment and laboratory analysis only in non-critical stages; this choice of keeping the core unchanged while modernizing the periphery is precisely the key to the survival of the aged-vinegar school to this day. The starting point of Meiheju lies in the first year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty (1368), when the vinegar masters of this Taiyuan workshop established the smoking-and-steaming process and the aging method of 'summer sunning in the heat, winter ice-skimming,' setting down the form and flavor of Jin vinegar. It belongs to the same lineage as vinegar-making craft since the Western Zhou dynasty, but what truly distinguishes Meiheju from ordinary vinegar workshops is the series of critical stages that over six hundred-plus years has never been broken up.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Born in February 1952 in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, he is of Han ethnicity. He is a national representative bearer of Aged Vinegar Brewing Craftsmanship (the Meiheju aged vinegar brewing craft), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He began work in 1970 and became chairman of Shanxi Meiheju Aged Vinegar Co., Ltd. in 1996. Together with Ren Ligen, the chief brewer, he has held fast to the distinctive craft of brewing from pure grain and has preserved in full the Meiheju fumigation method of making aged vinegar. At non-critical stages he has improved processes, introduced modern equipment and adopted scientific laboratory analysis, giving the steady improvement of aged vinegar quality a scientific basis and guarantee. To meet market demand he has developed functions beyond seasoning, including health care, cosmetic use and drinking. In core craft posts he has committed himself to training young technicians and has brought up several dozen disciples. Within the documented technical tradition of Laochencuniangzhijiyi in Taiyuan, Shanxi: Shanxi aged vinegar heads the four famous vinegars of China, and its brewing technique belongs to the same lineage as vinegar-making craft since the Western Zhou dynasty. In the first year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty (1368), the vinegar makers of the Taiyuan workshop 'Meiheju' created the 'smoking-and-steaming' process and the aging process of 'summer sunning in the heat, winter ice-skimming,' raising the brewing craft of Shanxi aged vinegar to a new level. The Meiheju aged-vinegar brewing technique has its own unique process flow; production employs specific raw and auxiliary materials and classical recipes, and technical means such as low-temperature liquid fermentation of the alcoholic mash, high-temperature inoculation and fire-lighting, smoking and percolation combined in making the vinegar, summer sunning in the heat, winter ice-skimming, and storage aging are all important among them. The Meiheju aged-vinegar brewing technique is unique in the field of Chinese vinegar making and is a typical representative of China's traditional aged-vinegar brewing techniques. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Archival Records of Process Steps": The Meiheju aged-vinegar brewing technique has its own unique process flow; production employs specific raw and auxiliary materials and classical recipes, and technical means such as low-temperature liquid fermentation of the alcoholic mash, high-temperature inoculation and fire-lighting, smoking and percolation combined in making the vinegar, summer sunning in the heat, winter ice-skimming, and storage aging are all important among them. "Low-temperature liquid mash fermentation": Fermenting the mash as a liquid at low temperature is the starting point, setting the strength and cleanliness that guide the later smoking and leaching. "High-temperature inoculation": High-temperature inoculation is the crucial step: the heat must be high enough to wake the cake and mash, or the vat sours. "Combined smoking and leaching": Smoking and leaching are combined in one operation: the smoked mash gives colour and body, and the first run off is graded above the rest.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2009, Guo Junlu was announced in the third batch of national representative bearers for Laochencuniangzhijiyi, with Taiyuan, Shanxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Laochencuniangzhijiyi in Taiyuan, Shanxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Taiyuan, Shanxi as its declared area, and Shanxi Laochencu Group Co., Ltd. as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Guo Junlu · National Representative Bearer Archive