Niangzaojiuchuantong Brewing Craftsmanship

01 · Historical Records

The first mention of Jinhua wine in the literature is the white lao wine brewed from glutinous rice and white smartweed qu at the time of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. After the Tang and Song periods it rose into the ranks of the nation's famous liquors on the strength of its quality. Around the Ming and Qing periods, distilleries in the Dongyang area grew ever more numerous, and Yuhehao, founded by Lü Zhifu, was one of them; it then passed through several generations of Lü Weixi and Lü Minxiang, and in 1942 was renamed the Huxi Distillery.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Fermented grain wine is commonly called "yellow wine" (huangjiu). It takes rice, broomcorn millet, corn and similar grains as raw materials. After washing, steaming and rinsing, white qu and yeast are used as saccharifying and fermenting agents; river qu and high-quality water are added, and after fermentation the mash (cloudy wine) is produced, which is then finished through pressing, settling and filtering. The wine is yellow in colour, clear and transparent, rich in aroma, and mild and mellow on the palate. Fermented grain wine is a traditional Chinese liquor, rich in nutrients, with effects such as promoting blood circulation, warming the stomach and intestines, moistening the skin, dispelling dampness, and nourishing and strengthening the body; it is especially loved by the people of Jiangnan. China is the birthplace of fermented grain wine. As early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, Shaoxing in Zhejiang could already brew yellow wine, a history of some 2,400 years to the present day. In the Jinhua region, during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, there also appeared the white lao wine brewed from glutinous rice and white smartweed qu. Fermented grain wine is mainly produced in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shanghai, among which the cities of Shaoxing and Jinhua in Zhejiang and Jintan in Jiangsu are the most famous. Yellow wine is the oldest liquor in China. Jinhua wine is produced in Jinhua, Zhejiang, and is one of China's historically famous liquors. With its long history, unique brewing technique, clear and sweet-mellow colour and taste, and its health-preserving and body-benefiting effects, it stands apart among China's many yellow wines. At the time of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Jinhua region already saw the appearance of "white lao wine" brewed from glutinous rice and white smartweed qu. After the Tang and Song periods, Jinhua wine won fame throughout the land for its excellent quality and joined the ranks of the nation's famous liquors. Traditional Jinhua wine mainly uses white qu as the saccharifying and fermenting agent; besides the wheat flour used in ordinary white qu, smartweed juice is added to promote fermentation and enhance the pungency. Second, a novel method of using qu. While using white smartweed qu, Jinhua wine also employs red rice qu (rice qu); the resulting Shousheng wine is both mellow and smooth with the aroma of wheat-qu wine, and clear red and bright with the colour of red-qu wine. Third, a strict timetable. The Jinhua wine brewing process includes three stages — qu making, early fermentation and late fermentation. Qu making begins around the Duanwu (Dragon Boat) Festival and is completed only by the dog days; the early fermentation begins after the Dongzhi (Winter Solstice) and is finished in just over a month; the late fermentation immediately follows, with the preliminarily brewed wine filled into jars and stored, maturing successfully in about a year. Fourth, a complex brewing process. Before and after brewing, Jinhua wine goes through dozens of process steps, each of which must be adjusted at any time according to the weather and brewing conditions. The Jinhua wine brewing technique is a typical representative and a complete surviving form of ancient China's early rice-wine brewing craft, containing rich cultural connotations within it.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The heart of Jinhua wine is in Dongyang, and the Huxi Distillery is its craft centre, distinct in lineage from the time-honoured brands around Jinhua city proper. Families that make Jinhua wine mostly work as households: women pick and sort tea while men make tea, and dozens of process steps are laid out on the household stove; qu making begins around Duanwu, early fermentation opens after Dongzhi, and late fermentation follows immediately with jar storage — a roughly year-long cycle arranged by the solar terms, and if any household missteps at one stage, the sweetness and colour of the finished wine suffer.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Niangzaojiuchuantong Brewing Craftsmanship · Niangzaojiuchuantong Brewing Craftsmanship · Niangzaojiuchuantong Brewing Craftsmanship · Niangzaojiuchuantong Brewing Craftsmanship.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Jinhua wine brewing technique is highly unique; its characteristics are mainly shown in four aspects: first, a unique method of making qu. Because Jinhua wine has always been brewed by hand in small family workshops, most of the craftsmen who master this skill are now around seventy years old, and their younger generations are seldom willing to learn this traditional craft; if protective measures are not taken soon, the prospects for the transmission and development of the traditional Jinhua wine brewing technique are worrying. Lü Minxiang (per the official archives of the associated inheritor): male, Han ethnicity, born in July 1953, a native of Dongyang City, Zhejiang Province, and a representative inheritor of the fifth national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Traditional Brewing Technique of Fermented Grain Wine (Jinhua Wine Traditional Brewing Technique)." His ancestor Lü Ziyi already had records of wine brewing. Lü Ziyi, a man of the Southern Song dynasty and the eleventh-generation descendant in the Lü clan genealogy of Dahua, Dongyang, once presented his home-brewed rice wine to Lu You, who wrote the poem "Dongyang Guo Xilü and Lü Ziyi Send Wine." Beginning with Lü Zhifu's founding of the "Yuhehao" distillery in the Qing dynasty and continuing to his father Lü Weixi, the craft has been passed down six generations. His father took over "Yuhehao" in 1942, after which it was renamed the "Huxi Distillery." Lü Minxiang learned the brewing craft from his father and now leads a team of young inheritors, having fully mastered the ancient brewing technique. He has gone to Macao, Hong Kong and Taiwan to take part in exhibitions of time-honoured Chinese brands. On the basis of records in "Zunsheng Bajian" and the "Compendium of Materia Medica," he revived the Dongyang wine variety of Jinhua wine and established a traditional Jinhua wine culture exhibition hall.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Xu Chaozhong 03-1416
• Wang Haoping 05-2839
• Lvminxiang 05-2840
• Chen Guanchang
• Li Zhongsheng

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Niangzaojiuchuantong Brewing Craftsmanship (Jinhua, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Lvminxiang · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗