Li Yuheng

01 · Lineage & Regional School

In 1979 he was assigned to the old cellaring team of the distillery's baijiu workshop, where he studied brewing techniques under Mi Xicheng and Yang Changxin. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship in Shenyang, Liaoning: According to aroma type, distilled liquor can further be divided into sauce-aroma, light-aroma, strong-aroma, rice-aroma, and composite-aroma types, among others. Distilled liquor was anciently called "shaojiu" (burned liquor) or "chunjiu" (mellow liquor). It first evolved from low-alcohol rice wine and took shape around the Song dynasty; it has a history of more than eight hundred years. The laolongkou baijiu brewing technique of Shenyang, Liaoning Province, originated in the first year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty (1662), when the Shanxi brewing merchant Meng Zijing, from Taigu County, founded the "Yilongquan" distillery outside the Lesser East Gate of Shengjing (present-day Shenyang, Liaoning), later renamed "Wanlongquan". Because the place was traditionally said to be the "mouth of the dragon city" of the Qing, it was called "Laolongkou" (old dragon mouth). In 1949 the "Wanlongquan" distillery was designated the "Laolongkou Distillery of the Shenyang Special Municipality Monopoly Bureau"; in 1960 it was renamed the "Shenyang Laolongkou Distillery", and in 2000 it became "Shenyang Tianjiang Laolongkou Brewing Co., Ltd.". Historically Laolongkou baijiu was mostly run by people from Shanxi; through more than three hundred years of transmission and evolution it formed a distinctive brewing craft of the north.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in September 1959 in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. National representative bearer of the Traditional Brewing Technique of Distilled Liquor (the Traditional Brewing Technique of Laolongkou Baijiu), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. While systematically studying brewing knowledge he trained hard, and in little more than a year he could judge the degree of fermentation of the fermented grain (jiupei) by eye, by smell and by touch alone. A solid theoretical foundation and years of practical experience steadily raised his skill, and he developed a distinctive method for improving the quality of the base liquor by using acetic acid fermentation liquor. He used the liquid and the thick dry portions of the fermentation liquor separately and added them according to the particular condition of each fermentation pit, greatly enhancing the aroma of the liquor. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship in Shenyang, Liaoning: In distilled-liquor brewing, starchy or sugary raw materials such as grains and tubers are first made into fermented mash (unfiltered liquor) or fermented into a cloudy liquor, and the liquor is then obtained by distillation. Distilled liquor is white or faintly yellow and transparent, and is therefore commonly known as "baijiu" (white liquor). It has a fragrant, pure aroma and a smooth, sweet, clean taste on the palate; its alcohol content is relatively high, making it a strong liquor. Distinguished by the raw materials and the saccharifying-and-fermenting agents used, distilled-liquor brewing differs according to whether it employs the daqu (large qu), xiaoqu (small qu), or fuqu (bran qu) technique. The materials for distilled liquor are mainly food grains, giving types such as sorghum liquor and maize liquor; sorghum has a high starch content and a moderate protein content, which makes it best suited to brewing distilled liquor. China's distilled liquor is produced mainly in Sichuan, Guizhou, Henan, Hebei, Shenyang, Jilin, Beijing, and other areas; the formation of its brewing techniques is closely related to the local grains (abundant sorghum), climate (cold or damp), water quality, and living customs. Laolongkou is located in the northeastern part of the Shenyang urban area, in the transitional zone between the outlying ridges of the Changbai mountains and the alluvial plain of the Liao River. Within the company's distillery there is an ancient well over a century old known as "Longtan water"; its water is clear and crisp-sweet, providing exceptional conditions for the development of the Laolongkou brewing technique. The Laolongkou baijiu brewing technique has six major features — good water and fine grain, treading the qu at the Dragon Boat Festival, fermentation in old pits, distillation in zeng steamers, aging in jiuhai (liquor-sea) vessels, and careful blending — and the liquor produced has a strong attack and a sauce-like finish, crisp-sweet and clean, smooth, sweet, and full-bodied, with a long aftertaste. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Good water and fine grain": The works stands at the meeting of the Changbai foothills and the Liaohe plain, and its century-old well, the Dragon Pool, yields clear sweet water essential to the recipe. "Treading the qu at the Dragon Boat festival": Treading the qu at the Dragon Boat festival is one of six features of the craft, and it depends on treading at the right hour of the proper day. "Fermentation in the old cellars": Fermentation in old cellars depends on the microflora built up over years, and the inheritor Li Yuheng could judge the lees by eye, nose and touch within a little over a year of study. "Distillation in the wooden still": Distillation in the wooden still is one of the six features; the run is strong at the head and sauce-like at the tail, and separating the fractions builds the mellow body.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2009, Li Yuheng was announced in the third batch of national representative bearers for Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship, with Shenyang, Liaoning as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship in Shenyang, Liaoning: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Shenyang, Liaoning as its declared area, and Shenyang Tianjianglaolongkouniangzao 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. Li Yuheng · National Representative Bearer Archive