Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-144Traditional CraftsmanshipTonghua, JilinBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

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. Daquanyuan liquor comes from the mountainous area of southwestern Tonghua County, Jilin Province, where nearly ten ethnic minorities, including the Korean ethnic group, live together; the climate here is cold and people generally enjoy drinking, so the distilling industry was once an important pillar industry of the region. The Daquanyuan liquor brewing technique was created in the tenth year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty (1884); building on the traditional brewing technique introduced by Shanxi merchants and blending it with local brewing techniques, it gradually formed its own distinctive style, possessing both the strengths of the old five-zeng brewing process and a regional character of its own.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

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.

The five-dun brewing method

Formed in Tonghua in 1884, the craft grafted a five-dun method brought by Shanxi merchants onto local practice, keeping its strengths while growing a style of its own.

Blending high-proof base wine with local mineral water

The high-proof base is cut with the local mineral water — a move nearly unique to this distillery, giving a fine, clean, mellow wine that travelled far beyond the county.

Keeping the century-old well and cellars in use

The works still draws on wells and cellars over a century old, so the water and cellar microflora continue to carry the brewing itself.

Wine vats listed as provincial heritage

The historic wine vats are listed as provincial and municipal heritage, keeping the storage vessels themselves as physical evidence of northeast brewing.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

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. In particular, the high-strength base liquor produced is blended with local high-quality mineral water, which may be called unique; this gives Daquanyuan liquor such qualities as excellent quality, a pure light aroma, and a smooth, supple, clean taste, making it deeply loved by the local people and enabling it to be sold throughout the country and even overseas.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Daquanyuan distillery still uses ancient wells and ancient cellars that have been in service for more than a hundred years, and the jiuhai (liquor-storage vessels) originally kept there have been listed as provincial- and municipal-level protected cultural relics. Together with the brewing technique, these relics form an important part of northeast China's liquor culture and have high value for historical and cultural research. The technical lineage of Daquanyuan liquor has one clear point of origin: it was created in the tenth year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty (1884), and building on the traditional brewing technique introduced by Shanxi merchants while blending it with local brewing techniques, it gradually formed its own distinctive style, possessing both the strengths of the old five-zeng brewing process and a regional character of its own; such a lineage makes it belong to the northern distilled-liquor lineage while also bearing the local features of the mountainous area of southwestern Tonghua County. The ancient well and the ancient cellars at the distillery, all more than a hundred years old, are still in service today, and the jiuhai (liquor-storage vessels) originally kept there have also been listed as provincial- and municipal-level protected cultural relics. Together with the brewing technique, these relics form an important part of northeast China's liquor culture and have high value for historical and cultural research: that the ancient well and the ancient cellars are still in service shows that the brewing environment itself has not been wholly replaced, while the listing of the jiuhai as provincial- and municipal-level protected cultural relics shows that the vessels used to hold liquor are also regarded as a piece of heritage.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship (Tonghua, Jilin) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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