In Chinese the word for alcohol "jiu" is used to mean all types of alcoholic beverages， from 'pijiu' (beer) to liquors (just called 'jiu') to grape wine ('putao jiu') The same character is used in Japanese and Korean， for that This lumping together of all intoxicating beverages gives us great insight into the traditional use for alcohol， Even in modern China alcoholic beverages are generally classed by the general population by how much intoxication it delivers for the From this point of view table wine is at the bottom rung of the consumer preference list， with brandy being much Wine was firstly recorded in the book of “SHI JI” ( which means historic record ) written by Si M 138 BC the emperor sent Zhangqian to Western Regions for a diplomatic mission， he was surprised to see people there make wine from grapes and rich people stocked Because Western Regions is part of ancient China， this record shows that people in HAN dynasty had learned how to grow grapes and make wine from our neighboring The book “EXCAVATION DISCOVERY IN TULUFAN” records how people in TULUFAN grow grapes and do wine business in 4-8 It also shows that wines were made in large quantity at this period of After Zhangqian came back from West Regions， he introduced grape growing and winemaking skills to the central C Wine soon became precious products for up class There is an interesting story in HAN dynasty which tells how Meng Boliang， a rich person was given a position of provincial governor by bribing a minister with a bottle of Su Shi， a famous Chinese poet said in his poem that some generals with medals were not given a position， how can a bottle of wine make a ordinary person to be a This is the charm of TANG dynasty is a golden age of winemaking history， because winemaking skills were known by ordinary people at this Many poems were written by famous poets to praise When girls got married， Wines were part of presents to their HU minority people opened wine shops in capital city Changan to sell wines from Western R Large quantity of wine products were sold on the market in YUAN “MACO POLO TRAVELOGUE” said that there were many vineyards in Taiyuan of Shanxi People made a lot of wines and sent them to different places to A poem popular at that time said that I am from Shanxi， I grow grape like jade， then make it into wine， to quench people It shows that local people took grape growing and winemaking as something great that they were proud The rulers of YUAN dynasty loved wines and they ordered that wines must be used for sacrifice Good vineyards were built in Taiyuan of Shanxi and Nanjing of J Some wine cellars were built in imperial In MING dynasty， famous doctor Li Shizhen mentioned winemaking skills and wine medical value in his book “PEN-TS’AO KAN-MU” He said that wine is good for people’s health and “NONG ZHENG QUAN SHU”， a book about agriculture written by Xu Guangqi， recorded some grape varieties people grew at that time which are: crystal grape (brown with white tinge， big berry and sweet)， purple grape ( black， big or small， sweet or sour)， green grape ( grown in Sichuan， look like rabbit eyes， sweeter than honey)， Suosuo grape ( small like pepper) China， the history of wine is longer than that of In 1986， a pot of wine excavated in Henan Province was found to have been made more than 3，000 years China has many famous brands of wine——Maotai， Five-Grain Liquor， Fen Liquor， Bamboo-Leaf-Green Liqueur， Luzhou Liquor， Gujing Tribute Wine， Rice Wine， Zhangyu Grape Wine， and Grape Wine of the Great Wall——that enjoy a worldwide There are more stories about wine in Chinese Tao Yuanming， a poet in the Jin Dynasty， could not live without wine for a The great poet Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty could "write 100 poems after drinking wine";the more wine he drank， the better the poem would Wu Song， a brave man from Liangshan in the Song Dynasty， drank 18 bowls of wine without a break， and then， barehanded， fought a fierce tiger to the At the 1915 Panama World Exposition， China wanted to display Maotai， but the American organizers did not think the yellow porcelain bottle was very attractive and refused to allow the spirit to be The Chinese delegation was very As they were quarreling strongly， a Chinese delegate， having a sudden flash of inspiration， deliberately dropped a bottle of Maotai on the Immediately the bottle was broken， the spirit was sprayed， and the whole room was filled with an exceptional Delegates of all countries were Finally， Maotai was appraised as a "World Famous Brand"， winning a golden _Knowledge/China_culture/200806/t20080630_shtml
