Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Over a thousand years, the Jingzhi liquor traditional brewing craft has formed the principles that "grain must be fine, water must be sweet, qu must be aged, vessels must be clean, work must be meticulous, storage must be long, and supervision must be strict"—that is, brewing grain must be of fine quality, brewing water must be clear, qu must be fully matured and aged, brewing facilities and wine containers must be clean, the process must be finely crafted, and storage must exceed three years. In 1957, a large number of wine vessels from the Dawenkou culture period were unearthed at the "Jingzhi Site," on the basis of which archaeologists confirmed that local liquor brewing has a history of over 5,000 years. The Anqiu County Annals of the Wanli reign of the Ming records that Jingzhi Town had "flourishing commerce and a notable output of white liquor," and "annually paid liquor tax of one hundred ingots and four strings of cash." In the Qing dynasty, the Jingzhi liquor industry flourished and was sold far abroad.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Jingzhi liquor traditional brewing craft is one type of China's traditional distilled-liquor brewing crafts. Its core distribution area is Jingzhi Town, Anqiu City, Shandong Province; the main historical relics and features are all located in Jingzhi Town and radiate to surrounding areas. Jingzhi Town lies on the alluvial plain of the Wei River in the interior of the Shandong Peninsula; its soil suits the growth of crops such as wheat, corn, soybeans, millet, and red sorghum. Here the hills are green and waters clear, the climate humid, with a superior ecological environment favorable to the brewing industry; it has long enjoyed the reputation of being the "Wine Capital of Qilu." Its distinctive regional character gave Jingzhi liquor its unique production craft; the production of "summer-qu" (fuqu) and the brewing of "peach-blossom jar liquor" (taohua wengjiu) are especially distinctive. Jingzhi liquor's raw material is locally grown black-calyx green-stalk sorghum; this sorghum has a high horny-endosperm ratio, withstands steaming and cooking, and yields good and abundant liquor. Its adjunct is rice husk, crushed to a "plum-blossom petal" form with "no raw escape," and the ingredients are mixed with "no clumped ferment and no white spots." Raw materials and adjuncts enter the pool for fermentation, with moisture and acidity reasonably adjusted according to season and temperature changes; loading the steamer is "light, loose, even, thin, accurate, and level"; distillation is "high-heat chasing the tail"; gelatinization is "cooked but not sticky, with no raw core inside." Strict management and control from raw materials, brewing, blending, warehousing, packaging, to ex-factory oversight ensure the quality and taste of Jingzhi liquor. Jingzhi Town has a long history of liquor brewing.
The seven musts of Jingzhi brewing
Six musts form the chain, and its weight falls on the last: new wine must rest more than three years before it may be sold.
Fu qu and peach-jar wine
Fu qu and peach-jar wine are the two signatures of Jingzhi, one governing fermentation, the other governing maturation in the jar.
Six rules for loading the still
Light, loose, even, thin, accurate and level: six rules that keep the steam path uniform through the still basket.
Driving the tail with a strong fire
At the end of the distillation a stronger fire drives the last spirits out; done well it keeps the tail clean and long.
Husk adjunct ground like plum petals
The husk adjunct must be ground like plum petals, and the mixed charge must have no lumps, or the still will cross-contaminate.
The Jingzhi site and Dawenkou vessels
Dawenkou wine vessels dug at Jingzhi in 1957 push local brewing back five thousand years, matching the Ming county gazetteer record of a taxed wine industry.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Jingzhi liquor gave rise to folk customs such as wine rites, wine customs, wine games, wine canons, wine songs, and wine poems, bringing into being the rich and colorful Jingzhi regional wine culture. The abundant records in historical texts concerning the Jingzhi liquor traditional brewing craft help reproduce the scenes of those days with modern information technology, fill gaps in the history of brewing science and technology, and provide important references for verifying local historical materials.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship · Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
For a thousand years the Jingzhi liquor traditional brewing craft has been passed from master to apprentice, transmitted generation to generation. At present, the inheritors and the inheriting community take the Shandong Jingzhi Liquor Co., Ltd. as their main transmission site, and actively devote themselves to the project's protection, transmission, and development. The brewing secrets formed in the long-term transmission practice of the Jingzhi liquor traditional brewing craft are an indispensable component of China's traditional brewing techniques.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Gao Jingyan 03-1409
- Shang Liyun 03-1410
- Qin Wenke 03-1411
- Li Yuheng 03-1412
- Lai Dengyi 03-1414
- Li Jiashun 03-1415
- Yang Dajin 05-2838
- Zhou Xinhu
- Li Tianhua
- Xu Zhancheng
- Zhao Deyi
- Li Zexia
- Lu Zhenying
- Zhao Dong
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。