What is the Chinese wine culture like?

Wine culture, as a special form of culture, has its unique position in traditional Chinese culture. Throughout thousands of years of civilization, wine has permeated almost every area of social life. First of all, China is a country founded on agriculture, so all political and economic activities are based on agricultural development. As a result, all political and economic activities were based on the development of agriculture. The vast majority of Chinese wines were brewed from grain, and wine was tightly attached to agriculture and became part of the agricultural economy. The abundance and failure of grain production is the barometer of the rise and fall of the wine industry. According to the grain harvest, the rulers of each dynasty regulated the production of wine by issuing wine bans or opening bans to ensure that the people were fed. In turn, the rise and fall of the wine industry also reflects the state of agricultural production and is one of the clues to understanding natural and man-made disasters in history. In some localized areas, the prosperity of the wine industry played a positive role in the improvement of local social living standards. Wine and socio-economic activities are closely related. Since the implementation of the state monopoly policy on wine during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the monopoly fee or wine tax collected from the brewing industry has become one of the main sources of state revenue. Revenue from wine tax was also historically related to military expenses and wars, which was directly related to the survival of the country. In some dynasties, wine tax (or wine monopoly revenue) was also related to corvée and other forms of taxation. Wine often became the fat meat of the state, the rich and powerful merchants and the people. The alternation of different wine policies reflected the change in the contrasting power of different classes. The issuance of the order to give asr wine is often associated with dynastic changes, imperial turnover, and some major royal activities. Wine, as a special commodity, adds rich colors to people's lives. Ancient Chinese summarized the role of wine into three categories: wine for healing, wine for old age, and wine for rituals. Over the past thousands of years, the role of wine is not limited to these three, at least also includes: wine to become happy, wine to forget, wine to strengthen the courage. Wine also makes people indulge, fall, hurt body and body. In history, there are a lot of kings because of indulgence in wine, leading to the disaster of the country.　　Wine is a symbol of social civilization. To study the history of social civilization, it is necessary to study the history of wine culture. The rich connotation in Chinese wine culture will bring fun and enlightenment to people.

The Origin of Wine Making In China, wine made from cereal grains has always been in a dominant position, while fruit wines accounted for a small share, so the origin of wine making is mainly to explore the origin of grain wine making.　　A Legend of the Origin of Brewing In ancient times, the origin of brewing was often attributed to the invention of a certain person, who was said to be the ancestor of brewing, which was so influential that it became the orthodox view. For these views, the Song Dynasty & lt; & lt; wine spectrum & gt; & gt; has raised doubts, that "are not enough to prove, and more of its superfluous to say. This is not enough for the evidence, but as a cultural identity phenomenon, may wish to list below. There are mainly the following legends.　　　1 Yi Di wine is said to have been invented by Yi Di during the Xia Yu period. The second century B.C. history book & lt; & lt; Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals & gt; & gt; cloud: \\\\\\\ "Yi Di made wine \\\\\\\". The <<Strategies of the Warring States>> edited by Liu Xiang in the Han Dynasty, further explains: \\\\\\\ "In the past, the emperor's daughter made Yi Di make wine and beautiful, and entered it into Yu, who drank it and sweetened it with the words: `The next generation will have a country that drinks wine. \\\\\\\" (Yu was an emperor of the Xia Dynasty) \\\\\\\".　　 2 Du Kang's Brewing Another legend says that the brewing of wine began with Du Kang (also from the Xia Dynasty). In the Eastern Han Dynasty <<Shuowen Jiezi>> the entry explaining the character \\\\\\\"wine\\\\\\\" reads: \\\\\\\"Du Kang made broomcorn millet wine. \\\\\\\"<<Shiben>> also has the same statement. 3 Brewing began in the period of the Yellow Emperor.　　 3 Brewing began in the period of the Yellow Emperor Another legend suggests that in the era of the Yellow Emperor, people have begun to brew. Han Dynasty book & lt; & lt; Huangdi Neijing - Suwen & gt; & gt; recorded in the yellow emperor and歧伯 discussion of brewing the scene, & lt; & lt; Huangdi Neijing & gt; & gt; also mentioned an ancient wine --- sweet cheese, that is, with the animal's milk brewed into a sweet wine. Huangdi is the Chinese nation's *** with the ancestors, many inventions appeared in the Huangdi period. <<Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine>> a book is actually a descendant of the name of the Yellow Emperor, the credibility of which remains to be proved.　　　4 wine and heaven and earth at the same time more with the mythological color of the statement is "the sky has wine star, wine is also made, with heaven and earth and carry on".　　These legends, though different, generally indicate that winemaking existed as early as the Xia Dynasty or before the Xia Dynasty, which is credible, and this has been confirmed by archaeologists. The Xia Dynasty is about four dry years ago, and has been unearthed more than five dry years ago brewing equipment. (<<New People's Evening News>>August 23, 1987 \\\\\\\" China's oldest writing was found in Ju County, Shandong Province, with the subtitle \\ Also found five dry years ago wine-making equipment \\\\\\\"). This discovery suggests that winemaking in China began at least five centuries ago, and that the origins of winemaking certainly preceded it. In ancient times, people probably first came into contact with certain naturally fermented wines and then copied them. This process may have taken quite a long time.　　Modern Scholars' Views on the Origin of Winemaking 1 Wine is a Natural Product Recently, scientists have discovered that there are some celestial bodies in the universe that are made up of alcohol. The alcohol contained, such as made of beer, can be used for human beings to drink for hundreds of millions of years. What does this mean? It can be used to show that alcohol is a natural product of nature. Humans did not invent alcohol, they merely discovered it. The main ingredient in wine is alcohol (ethanol, molecular formula C2H5OH), and many substances can be converted into alcohol in various ways. For example, glucose can be converted into alcohol by enzymes secreted by microorganisms, and certain substances can be converted into alcohol if certain conditions are met. As long as certain conditions are met, certain substances can be converted into alcohol. Nature is fully equipped with the basis to produce these conditions.　　China's Jin Dynasty Jiang Tong in & lt; & lt; wine grant & gt; & gt; wrote that the rise of wine, originating from the emperor, or cloud Yi Di, and cloud Dukang. There is rice is not all, the Committee after the empty Sang, YuZhi into flavor, long storage gas Fang, this out of this, not by the odd side. Here, the ancients put forward the idea of natural fermentation of leftover rice into wine, is in line with scientific reasoning and the actual situation. Jiang Tong was the first person in the history of China to put forward the doctrine of natural fermentation of grains to make wine. In short, it was not an invention but a discovery that made mankind start brewing grain wine. Mr. Fang Xinfang described this in detail: "Before and after the emergence of agriculture, the method of storing grains was crude. When natural grains were exposed to moisture, they would become moldy and sprout, and the leftover cooked grains would also become moldy. These moldy and sprouted grains were the natural cranks of the ancient times, and when they were immersed in water, they were fermented to make wine, that is, natural wine. As people continued to come into contact with natural corks and natural wine and gradually accepted natural wine as a beverage, artificial corks and artificial wine were invented, and over time, artificial corks and artificial wine were invented". Modern science explains that the starch in the leftover food was gradually decomposed into sugar and alcohol under the action of enzymes secreted by microorganisms existing in nature, which naturally transformed it into wine with a strong aroma. In ancient times, wild fruits were collected as food and were high in sugar, so they did not need to be liquefied or saccharified, and were most easily fermented into wine.　 2 Fruit Wine and Milk Wine - The First Generation of Beverage Wine Human beings started to make wine consciously by imitating the masterpieces of nature. There are many records about the natural fermentation of fruits into wine in the ancient books of China. For example, in the Song Dynasty, Zhou Mi in <<Dec Xin Miscellaneous Knowledge>> has recorded that the pears were stored in the ceramic tanks after the people turned into a fragrant pear wine. Yuan dynasty yuan hao wen in & lt; & lt; peach wine fu & gt; & gt; preface also recorded that a mountain people because of refuge in the mountains, piled up in the tank of the peach has become a fragrant and mellow wine. Ancient historical records of the so-called ape wine, of course, this ape wine is not the ape consciously brewed wine, but the apes collected fruit natural fermentation of fruit wine.　　As far back as the Paleolithic era, people lived by gathering and hunting, and fruit was naturally one of the staple foods. Fruits contain more sugar (such as glucose, fructose) and other ingredients, in nature under the action of microorganisms, it is easy to natural fermentation to generate fragrant, delicious fruit wine, in addition, animal milk contains protein, lactose, very easy to ferment into wine, hunting for a living the ancestors may also accidentally from the retained milk in the milk to get milk wine. In <<Huangdi Neijing>>, recorded a kind of sweet cheese", that is, the earliest record of milk wine in China. According to ancient legends and brewing principles of speculation, human beings have the consciousness to brew the most primitive varieties of alcohol should be fruit wine and milk wine. Because fruit and animal milk are easy to ferment into wine, the brewing technology required is relatively simple.　　3 Did grain brewing begin in the agricultural era or precede it?　　Two questions are worth considering when exploring the origins of grain winemaking: when did grain winemaking originate? To which category do our oldest grain wines belong? The latter question is covered in the beer section of Chapter Five.　　There are two diametrically opposed views of when grain brewing began.　　The traditional view of the origin of brewing that: brewing was developed after farming, this view was put forward as early as the Han Dynasty, Liu An in the Han Dynasty & lt; & lt; Huainanzi & gt; & gt; said that the beauty of the clear ounce, began to Lei ???ê \\\\\\\ ". Many modern scholars also hold the same view, some even believe that it is when the development of agriculture to a certain extent, there is a surplus of food, only began to brew.　　Another view that grain brewing preceded the farming era, such as in 1937, China's archaeologist Mr. Wu Qichang had put forward a very interesting point of view: the earliest of our ancestors planted rice planted millet for the purpose of brewing rather than cooking ....... Eating is really brought out from drinking. This view is more popular in foreign countries, but there has been no evidence. After half a century, the United States, the University of Pennsylvania anthropologist Dr. Solomon Katz published a paper, and put forward a similar point of view, that people initially planted grains for the purpose of brewing beer, people first found that the collected grains can be brewed into wine, and then began to consciously planting grains, in order to ensure that the supply of raw materials for brewing. The basis of this view is: in ancient times, the staple food of human beings was meat, not grain, that is, if the staple food on which human beings rely for survival is not grain, then the explanation of human planting of grains may also open up another path. Overseas countries have found that more than 10,000 years ago, people in the ancient times had already begun to brew grain wine, while at that time, people were still living a nomadic life.　　To summarize, there are two main views on the origin of grain winemaking, namely: before the farming era and after the farming era. It is of great significance for the origin and development of wine, and for the development of human society, to put forward a new viewpoint and to re-examine the traditional viewpoints.