Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-144Traditional CraftsmanshipBaojishifengxiang, ShaanxiBatch 5 (2021)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Newly produced liquor is stored for at least three years in "jiuhai" (large wine containers) made of magou paper and a bio-adhesive, allowing the various acids, esters, and aromatic alcohols in the liquor to reach equilibrium. This makes the mouthfeel more harmonious and refined, producing a compound aroma dominated by ethyl acetate with hexanoic acid ethyl ester as a secondary note, and a style described as "mellow and elegant, sweet and crisp, all flavors in harmony, with a clean and lingering finish."

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Xifeng liquor brewing technique is one of the representative traditional distilled-liquor brewing techniques of China, mainly distributed in the area centered on Liulin Town, Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province. Liulin Town lies in the western part of the Guanzhong Plain and the northern Wei River loess tableland, within a warm-temperate continental monsoon climate zone. The local water is clear and transparent, sweet and pure, and the land is fertile — favorable conditions for both agriculture and liquor-making. The favorable ecological environment and climate provided natural conditions for the Xifeng liquor brewing technique. The Xifeng liquor brewing technique comprises the skills of qu-making, liquor production, and storage, along with related rules. Liquor production generally begins in September and ends in June of the following year. Using sorghum crushed into 4 to 8 pieces as the raw material, after cleaning and steaming it is mixed with qu and adjuncts, then processed by solid-state continuous fermentation in earthen underground cellars combined with the "old five-zeng" method of mixed steaming and mixed firing, with liquor picked in stages at moderate temperature. Each year, "raw earth" and clay are used to renew the cellar walls. Sensory experience such as "looking with the eyes, smelling with the nose, touching with the hands, and kicking with the feet" is used to control the fermentation requirement of "slow at first, steady in the middle, slow again at the end." Loading the steamer demands being "light, loose, thin, even, and slow"; distillation demands "slow-fire distillation and high-fire tailing"; and picking the liquor is done by observing the shape of the "wine flowers" (bubbles) — "cut off the head, discard the tail, keep the middle" — to obtain the new liquor. The Xifeng liquor brewing technique has a long history.

Reading fermentation with eye, nose, hand and foot

Fermentation is read with the eye, nose, hand and foot against the slow-steepy-steady-slow rule of the pit.

Loose, light, even and slow loading

Loading follows loose, thin, even and slow, so that steam passes evenly through every layer of the still.

Cutting head and tail, keeping the middle

The head is cut when the foam scatters and the tail when it fades and clouds; only the middle cut goes to the sea of jars.

Renewing the pit wall with fresh earth

Every year the earth walls of the semi-underground pits are renewed with fresh loam, keeping old pits young.

Barley and pea qu trodden eleven times

Barley and peas are crushed three to two, mixed with water and mother qu, then trodden on the qu boards eleven times and matured for thirty days.

Brewing from September to the next June

The cycle spans a full year, from September loading to the following June, with the buried pits setting their own pace.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

At present, Xifeng liquor sells throughout China and is exported to the European Union, North America, and Southeast Asia, playing a positive role in providing local employment and increasing incomes.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

For qu-making, barley and peas are mixed in a 3:2 ratio and crushed, then water and "mother qu" are added and stirred; the mixed material must satisfy the requirement of "forming a ball in the hand that neither scatters nor sticks." It is placed into wooden qu molds and trodden on qu boards — each qu cake is stamped 11 times (6 at the edges, 2 at the top, 3 in the middle) — then moved to a brick-and-wood qu house where it is arranged in tiers and cultured at medium-high temperature for 30 days. In classical works such as Zou Yang's "Fu on Liquor" of the Western Han and Jia Sixie's "Qimin Yaoshu" of the Later Wei, there are discussions on brewing techniques based on the practical life experience of the Guanzhong region at the time — such as the "Guanzhong Baibo" and the "Qinzhou spring-qu method" — techniques that are still widely used today. At present, the inheritors and the inheriting community are concentrated at Shaanxi Xifeng Liquor Co., Ltd. More than 2,000 employees in the industry achieve the transmission of the technique through means such as master-apprentice teaching, oral transmission of secret formulas, training and exchange, and repeated practice. The Xifeng liquor brewing technique is closely linked to the politics, history, economy, and culture of the Guanzhong region. It is an important vehicle for displaying the culture of the Rites of Zhou and the folk customs of Guanzhong, and it bears witness to the social development of Guanzhong and the inheritance and development of Chinese liquor culture.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship (Baojishifengxiang, Shaanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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