Chinese Wine

China has a long history of making and drinking wine.The potteries excavated by archaeologists proved that Chinese people started brewing mild grain liquor 5000 years ago.Chinese inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells，the bronze inscriptionof the Chinese character”wine”and the rich varieties of bronze wine vessels all show that the wine industry was already well developed by the Shang and Zhou Dynasties.The invention of the distiller was a milestone for the Chinese wine industry.About 1000 years ago，in the Song Dynasty，by using the distiller Chinese people were able to make highly alcoholic cooking wine，which is called liquor now.

Chinese wine can be classified into two categories:rice wine（yellow wine）and liquor.As the oldest wine in China，rice wine is a kind of low alcoholic wine made from glutinous rice.Because of its bright orange yellow，it is also called Yellow Wine.Zhuangyuan Red，Rice-adding Wine and Huadiao Wine are all famous Yellow Wine.

There is about a 10%-20%alcohol content；it is the most nutritious among Chinese liquors，and it tastes mellow and delicious.Rice wine can be cooking wine as well，particularly for cooking mutton and fresh fish.It can remove the fishiness and als can increase the fresh flavor.

Liquor（White Wine）is the most typical wine in China；it is highly alcoholic wine made from millet，sorghum，corn and sweet potato through distilling.Because ofthe crystal color，it is called White Wine too.Mao-tai liquor and Wuliangye are th representatives of Chinese liquor.White wine tastes delicious and has high alcohol content，usually more than 38 degrees，sometimes even more than 70 degrees.Thus people consider it as hard liquor.

In China，Liquor can be seen anywhere and at anytime.It plays an important and indispensable role in people’s life.We still can see some clues of in literature，entertainment，catering and health preservation.

“Drinking with a good friend，a thousand shots are not enough”；wine is part of etiquette for Chinese people；we welcome our guests with wine，celebrate with wine，pray for fortune with wine，express emotions with wine，sacrifice animals to heaven with wine，move into new buildings with wine，reconcile with wine，thank with wine，open ceremonies with wine and enjoy festivals with wine.From weddings and funerals to country founding ceremonies，as long as Chinese people are getting together，there must be wine prepared.In short，wine has become a part of Chinese dining culture，which goes into every corner of China.

qingquang

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