Li Zexia

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Li Zexia, Female, Han, from Hengshui, Hebei, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-144). The tradition is documented in Hengshui, Hebei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship in Hengshui, Hebei: 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.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Li Zexia is anchored in the documented technical standards of Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship in Hengshui, Hebei. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship in Hengshui, Hebei: 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. Hengshui laobaigan liquor of Hebei Province is the typical representative of Chinese laobaigan-aroma baijiu and a model of high-quality daqu baijiu in northern China; it is characterized by a mellow, elegant fragrance, a harmonious body, and a full, crisp-sweet taste with a long finish. Hengshui laobaigan liquor uses high-quality northeastern sorghum as its raw material. Local high-quality wheat is naturally inoculated in the qu room and cultured under controlled fermentation to make medium-temperature daqu, which serves as the saccharifying and fermenting agent. In brewing it employs the traditional handicraft of successive-batch ingredient blending and the old five-zeng method of mixed steaming and mixed firing, fermenting in earthen vats, distilling over a gentle fire, cutting the liquor in stages, storing by grade, aging in ceramic jars, and blending with care, to produce a pure laobaigan. The traditional brewing technique of laobaigan is prized for its distinctive craft and has won awards many times at home and abroad. For a thousand years the brewing technique of Hengshui laobaigan liquor has been handed down from generation to generation through oral instruction, personal understanding, and master-to-apprentice transmission, and in that process it has been continuously innovated and developed, displaying a rich local cultural character. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Successive-batchPeiLiao of the spent lees": The grain is northeast sorghum and the saccharifying agent a medium-temperature qu made from local wheat inoculated in the qu room; lees are carried forward round after round. "Fermentation in the buried jars": Slow low-temperature fermentation in buried ceramic jars gives the harmonious, mellow and long-finished body that defines the laobaigan style. "Gentle distillation": A steady fire and slow take-off let the aroma come off evenly; too fierce scatters it and drags impurities, too slow merely stretches the work. "Cutting fractions and grading the cellar": Cutting the run into fractions and grading each into the cellar keeps base wines apart, giving the later blending something to work with.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Li Zexia was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship, with Hengshui, Hebei as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship in Hengshui, Hebei: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Hengshui, Hebei as its declared area, and Hebei Hengshui Laobaiganjiuye 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. Lizexia (Hengshui, Hebei) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Lizexia · China ICH Official Archive