Cultural Grassroots: Who was the earliest brewer in China?

China is the hometown of wine and one of the earliest cradles of wine, with a history of more than 5,000 years. In the long historical development of mankind, China wine has formed its own unique style, that is, koji with mold growth as the main microorganism as the starter. This has become a typical feature of the oriental brewing industry. China's wine is mainly brewed from grain, which has developed into three series: fermented wine, distilled wine and mixed wine.

Wine is not a necessity, but it plays an irreplaceable role and goes deep into all fields of society. Therefore, we can learn about the society, history and culture of China through wine. With wine, there is wine culture. As a special cultural form, wine culture has a unique position in traditional culture. It is closely related to politics, economy, military affairs and commerce. , and infiltrated into folk customs, etiquette and other fields, becoming an important part of people's lives. In ancient times, some people once summarized the functions of wine into three categories: wine for treating diseases, wine for providing for the aged and wine for ceremony. For thousands of years, the role of wine is not limited to these three, at least it also includes: wine makes you happy, wine forgets your worries, and wine emboldens you. However, alcohol can also make people addicted, degenerate and lose their health. In history, many monarchs indulged in debauchery, which led to the disaster of national subjugation. For example, Yin people drank good wine, so Zhou Wang often drank all night and didn't care about state affairs, so he finally died. There were many wine vessels unearthed in modern times in the Yin Dynasty, which shows that the drinking atmosphere was really prosperous at that time. In fact, drinking is not a unique hobby of Yin people. Celebrities in all previous dynasties were alcoholics, and there were almost no scholars in later generations who did not drink, including female writers. They not only drink, but also write wine, which has almost become the eternal theme of ancient literature.

Wine is a symbol of social civilization, and it is impossible to study the history of social civilization without studying the history of wine culture. The connotation of wine culture is extremely rich, and the pursuit of wine reflects China people's view, value orientation and realm on the world, life and humanity. Wine culture is not only reflected in the process of wine brewing, but also in drinking utensils, wine system, manners and methods. Wine culture is a subject worthy of in-depth study, which enables human beings to get out of loneliness, find a sustenance, increase the fun of life and enrich human emotional life.

However, while people are grateful for the nourishment that wine brings to mankind, they are also thinking about a heavy historical question, that is, when was wine produced, who invented it and who was the earliest brewer? I'm afraid this is impossible to research, as the Song Dynasty's "Wine Spectrum" said: "Nothing is enough to research, so it's unnecessary." But we can roughly infer the history of our ancestors' wine-making from the literature records.

One thing is certain, wine culture is definitely later than food culture, and whether it should be later than farming culture is worth textual research. Some people think that it is possible to make wine only if there is a surplus of food. Liu An of the Han Dynasty held this view. In Huai Nan Zi, he said: "The beauty of Qing Ang began in Leigang." Some people think that grain brewing precedes farming. For example 1937, an archaeologist in China, Mr. Wu Qichang, once put forward a very interesting point: "Our ancestors first planted rice seeds for brewing, not cooking ... eating really came from drinking." This view is very popular abroad, but there has been no evidence. Half a century later, anthropologist Solomon of the University of Pennsylvania? Dr. Katz published a paper and put forward a similar view. He believes that people originally planted grain for the purpose of brewing beer. People first discovered that the collected grain could be used to make wine, and then began to consciously plant grain to ensure the supply of raw materials for wine making. The basis of this view is that in ancient times, the staple food of human beings was meat, not grain, that is to say, the staple food on which human beings lived was not grain, so the explanation of human planting grain may be another way. It is found abroad that people in ancient times began to brew cereal wine as early as 10 thousand years ago, when people were still living a nomadic life. But to understand this problem, we need to figure out a question, that is, can food be sprinkled on the ground to make wine? Definitely not. It needs container fermentation. Is it necessary to wait until crops become the staple food of human beings before grain fermentation can be collected in large quantities? Obviously not. Primitive people also stored food for themselves or fed animals. Humans are not only carnivorous from the beginning, but also plants are the first important food source for human beings, such as fruit foods of plants. Mice still know how to store food in autumn, let alone humans. The accumulation of grain makes it possible to make wine, but the earliest source of grain does not necessarily depend on farming and harvesting. Therefore, wine may be earlier than farming in some human beings and later than farming in some ethnic groups. In China, it probably predates farming.

Jiang Tong of the Jin Dynasty wrote in Wine and Wine: "The prosperity of wine originated from the emperor or the cloud of Du Kang. Some can't be eaten, and the rest are empty, which has been stagnant for a long time. It is not surprising that this is the reason. " Here, the ancients put forward the view that leftovers are naturally fermented into wine, which accords with scientific truth and actual situation. Jiang Tong was the first person to put forward the theory of grain natural fermentation in the history of China. In a word, people began to brew cereal wine not by invention, but by discovery. Mr. Fang described this in detail: "Before and after the emergence of agriculture, the methods of storing food were extensive. Natural grains will be moldy and germinate when they are wet, and the remaining cooked grains will also be moldy. These moldy and germinated grains are natural tillers in ancient times. After they are soaked in water, they will ferment into wine, which is natural wine. People have been in constant contact with natural tillers and natural wine, and gradually accepted the drinking of natural wine, so they invented artificial tillers and artificial wine. Over time, they invented artificial tillers and artificial wine. " Modern science explains this problem in this way: under the action of enzymes secreted by microorganisms existing in nature, the starch in the leftovers is gradually decomposed into sugar and alcohol, which naturally becomes wine with rich aroma. In ancient people's food, the collected wild fruits have high sugar content and are easy to ferment into wine without liquefaction and saccharification.

Man's conscious winemaking begins with imitating the masterpieces of nature. There are many records about the natural fermentation of fruit into wine in China ancient books. For example, in the Song Dynasty, Zhou Mi recorded that Yamanashi was stored in a clay pot and turned into pear wine. In Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Haowen also recorded in the Preface to Pu Tao's Nine Fu that the Pu Tao piled up in the altar became mellow wine because a mountain people returned to the mountains. There is also a record of "ape wine" in ancient history books. Of course, this ape wine is not consciously brewed by apes, but naturally fermented fruit wine collected by apes.

As early as the Paleolithic, people lived by gathering and hunting, and fruit was naturally one of the staple foods. Fruit contains a lot of sugar and other ingredients. Under the action of microorganisms in nature, it is easy to naturally ferment into a fragrant and delicious fruit wine. In addition, the milk of animals contains protein and lactose, which can be easily fermented into wine. Ancestors who lived by hunting may also get milk wine from the retained milk by accident. There is a kind of "fermented cheese" in Huangdi Neijing, which is the earliest record of milk wine in China. According to ancient legends and brewing principles, the most primitive wine varieties consciously brewed by human beings should be fruit wine and milk wine. Because fruit and animal milk are easy to ferment into wine, the required brewing process is relatively simple.

When did the history of wine-making begin? We should also focus on two preconditions: first, raw materials for brewing; The second is the brewing container. According to archaeological findings, during the Peiligang cultural period (5000-6000 BC) and Hemudu cultural period (4000-500 BC), China people had pottery and crop remains, and had the material conditions for making wine. From 7355 to 7235, magnetic mountain culture had a developed agricultural economy. According to the statistics of relevant experts, the grain accumulation area found in this site is 100 square meter, equivalent to 50,000 kilograms. At the same time, some pottery similar in shape to later wine vessels were found. Some people think that during magnetic mountain culture's time, it was very possible to make wine with grains. Sanxingdui site, located in Guanghan, Sichuan, was buried from 4800 BC to 2870 BC, and a large number of pottery and bronze wine vessels, including cups, jars and pots, were unearthed. Its shape is rare in prehistoric cultural relics. During the period of 1979, archaeologists unearthed a large number of wine vessels in Dawenkou cultural tomb of Lingyin River in Juxian County, Shandong Province. It is particularly noteworthy that there is a combination of wine vessels, including large pottery statues for brewing and fermentation, leaky pots for filtering wine, pottery pots for storing wine, cookware pots for cooking materials, and various types of drinking utensils.

/kloc-more than 0/00. According to the analysis of archaeologists, the tomb owner may have been a professional winemaker before his death. During the Longshan culture period, there were many wine vessels. Domestic scholars generally believe that the brewing industry in Longshan culture period is relatively developed.

Who was the earliest brewer in China?

Based on the long history of winemaking, it is impossible to know who was the earliest winemaker long before written records. As for the records, there are several, but in my opinion, they are only master brewers or technical improvers, named after their expertise in brewing.

There are three main legends about the earliest brewers: one is the land of the Xia Dynasty. According to Historical Records, Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals, Warring States Policy and other pre-Qin classics, Yi Di was an official in charge of brewing in Xia and Yu Dynasties. According to legend, she is the earliest brewer in China, and she is a woman. The history book Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals in the second century BC said, "Yidi makes wine". "The Warring States Policy" written by Liu Xiang in the Han Dynasty records: "In the past, the emperor's daughter made the righteous emperor make wine beautiful, enter it, drink it, and be willing to drink it, saying,' There will be a country that drinks in the future.' So, I gave up my manners and gave up my wine. "Roughly speaking, Yu Xia called Yi Di to make wine. After some efforts, Yidi brewed delicious wine and presented it to Yu Xia. Yu Xia drank it and thought it was really beautiful. Regarding Yidi's view of brewing wine, Taiping Yulan also said: "Yidi started the wine mash and changed it into five flavors. "Another way of saying it is' Yidi makes wine mash and Du Kang makes wine'." Laozi is a kind of fermented glutinous rice, soft and sweet. It is mostly produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and now many families still have homemade Laozi. The mash is white and delicate, and the thick mash can be used as the staple food, and the clear juice on it is quite close to wine. There is also a saying that "the prosperity of wine originated from the emperor and became a virtue. "That is to say, since the era of the ancient Three Emperors and Five Emperors, various brewing methods have been popular among the people. It was Yidi who summarized these brewing methods and passed them on to future generations.

Second, wine-making began in Du Kang in the Xia Dynasty. Explained in Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Eastern Han Dynasty: "In the wine word entry, Du Kang made wine." "Shiben" also has the same statement. Du Kang, also known as Shao Kang, was born in Xia Dynasty. He was the fifth king of Xia Dynasty, the first slave country in China's history. Xia Benji and other historical documents record that during the reign of Di Xiang, the fourth king of Xia Dynasty, a coup took place and Di Xiang was killed. At that time, Di Xiang's wife Hou Yi was pregnant and fled to her family to give birth to a son. She was named Shao Kang because she hoped he could do something like Grandpa Zhong Kang. Du Kang, a teenager, lives by grazing. He hangs his meal on the tree and often forgets to eat it. After a while, Shao Kang found that the leftovers hanging on the tree had changed their taste, and the juice produced was unexpectedly sweet and abnormal, which aroused his interest. After repeated research and thinking, he finally discovered the principle of natural fermentation. He consciously followed suit and constantly improved, and finally formed a complete set of brewing technology, thus laying the foundation stone of China's brewing industry-Du Kang, and the wine he brewed was named "Dukang Wine" ("Shuo Wen Jie Zi")

Third, wine-making began in the Yellow Emperor. Huangdi Neijing written by Han Dynasty? Su Wen recorded the wine-making scene discussed by Huangdi and Zeebe, and Huangdi Neijing also mentioned an ancient wine-fermented cheese, that is, sweet wine made from animal milk. Huangdi is the ancestor of China's humanities, and many achievements depend on him, which is not credible.