Diet is the first element of human survival and development, human civilization began with diet. Diet culture with the formation of human society and development, with the development of human society and progress, diet beyond the simple physiological needs, constantly enriching their own own connotation, become an important content of social and cultural life, is a part of people's material life and spiritual life. China's food culture has a long history, long history, profound and profound, with distinctive national and regional, is a bright pearl in the treasure house of Chinese culture, but also China's tourism development in the valuable tourism resources.
Diet culture refers to people's dietary behavior and habits in daily life, mainly including the properties of the food itself, the production process and rituals, dining utensils, environment, etiquette and customs.
Food culture has always been the treasure of national culture. Chinese cuisine, which is famous all over the world, contains rich food sources of the Chinese nation, unique food processing techniques, food aesthetics and food folklore and other cultural connotations, which has become an important part of the material and spiritual civilization of successive societies, and is one of the yardsticks to test the degree of development of these two kinds of civilization. At the same time, Chinese cuisine is also an art of color, aroma, taste, shape, utensils, health and meaning. It is in the color, the pursuit of warm and cold matching, light and dark; in the smell, advocating the aroma, mellow and attractive; in the taste, the importance of the five flavors and harmony, popular; in the shape, pay attention to the varied, exquisite and harmonious; in the vessel, and strive to texture, beautiful and comfortable, complement each other; in the function, advocating the health and safety, health and physical and mental health; in the dietary atmosphere, pay attention to the quiet and elegant, fun.
China's food culture has a long history, excellent cooking skills, known around the world, in the world known as the "Kingdom of Food" reputation. Like music, dance, calligraphy, painting, theater, Chinese food culture is an important part of China's thousands of years of splendid national cultural heritage, but also a valuable tourism resources. It can be said that in today's tourism activities, food has long exceeded the purpose of the pure biological sense, but reflects people's love of life, show themselves, the pursuit of elegance, focus on the experience, enrich the interest of the cultural carriers and symbols, is an important cultural activities containing a wealth of social significance. Nowadays, "Eating in China", tasting the flavorful dishes of China's great rivers and mountains, is one of the motives for thousands of domestic and foreign tourists to travel to China.
The development process of Chinese food culture:
Food culture emerged with the emergence of human society, and with the development of human material culture and spiritual culture, and continue to form its own rich connotation. Regarding the origin of food culture, there are different accounts. Some people rely on the Huangdi manufacture kettle and cauldron, teaching the legend of Minjian stove steaming grain, that he is the originator of cooking; some people think that Suiren's "drilling wood for fire, in order to transform the fishy", he opened the first page of the history of cooking; there are also people think that Fuxi's "knots and netting, in order to teach the tenant fishermen," should be the originator of cooking in China. Should be the originator of Chinese cooking. In fact, these records in the ancient books are later memorial, and often coated with a layer of mythological colors, more inevitably an era or a clan tribes of some of the creations focused on a person. Human primitive collection of wild fruits, capture animals just for the sake of the belly, is to fill the hunger to protect the body, the ancient records reflect the transformation from the blood to cooked food, not to talk about the art of human conscious cooking. With a scientific perspective, the emergence of dietary activities should be from the beginning of mankind to eat cooked food. With the continuous development of the productive forces of human society, surplus products are becoming increasingly abundant, the social division of labor is increasingly expanding, dietary activities have become a conscious behavior of mankind, and gradually formed a cyclical inertia, and then created a series of food-related concepts and behavioral systems, which gradually evolved into an art, a culture.
About 10,000 to 40,000 years ago, human beings invented the stone cooking method of burning stones to transfer heat to cook things, which is the most primitive cooking method. Primitive humans either put food directly on the fire to cook, or put the food on a stone plate to heat the stone plate to cook and eat, as evidenced in the archaeology of Zhoukoudian in Beijing. By the Neolithic period, Chinese society entered the pottery period, people used pottery as cooking utensils, or used pottery tripods to cook meat, or used pottery li to cook grains, or used pottery earthenware vessel to steam food. The use of pottery cooking utensils, promote the development of primitive cooking, marking the human formally entered the cooking era.
Summer, Shang, Zhou Dynasty to Qin unified China, is an extremely important stage in the history of China's culinary. With the leap in productivity, all aspects of social life underwent profound changes. China has entered the Bronze Age since the Xia Dynasty. People began to use copper cooking utensils, change the raw materials into small pieces, the use of animal oil to cook dishes, which makes cooking and progress to the oil cooking method. At this time, the aristocrats should play music and hit the bell when eating, and use the tripod to contain a variety of delicacies, that is, the so-called "bells and tripods food". The basic program of China's food culture was initially set in this period. From a historical point of view, the pre-Qin period of food and primitive society period compared with the great progress, such as food range is expanding, cooking utensils continue to develop, cooking methods have progressed, cooking system, the initial formation of food culture, and so on.
The dietary varieties and cooking level of the Han Dynasty have made great progress compared with the previous dynasty. After the Han Dynasty, iron gradually replace copper, vegetable oil began to stove into the food, has mastered the stewing, boiling, frying, frying, sauce, pickling, sizzling and other cooking methods, the food ingredients are also very concerned about the technical division of cooking operations have become mature, which can be unearthed from Shandong, "kitchen map", "cook figurines," as evidenced. The kitchen map" depicts a set of coherent cooking production process before and after the grand scene, the figure drawn characters are busy, each in their own way, from top to bottom there are six levels, outlining the preparation of raw materials from the processing of all aspects of processing, the division of labor level is clear, is a strong expression of the culinary culture of the Han Dynasty. The "cook figurine" is about the image of the chef modeling, from the clothes and attire, almost the same as today's chef, which shows that the chef has been formed as a profession. After Zhang Qian passed through the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, a large number of grapes, watermelons, sesame seeds, spinach, celery, garlic, fennel and other foreign foods were introduced, so that the traditional diet in terms of quantity, quality, structure and other aspects of change.
Wei-Jin and North-South Dynasty period is China's people of all races food culture exchange, integration period, coupled with the influence of Taoism, "immortality" ideas, in the content and form of food and food colorful, the pursuit of "medicine and food", "medicine and food as one" colorful cooking methods. At this time, the types of food almost include most of the commonly used foods in modern times, and Jia Si-fo's "Essentials of the People" reflects the high degree of development of food culture at that time. In addition, after the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the wind of drinking tea began to rise, the southern state of Wu tea as a court drink, aristocratic banquets, are set to drink tea. During the Southern Dynasty, tea has been popularized to the poor people's families. In the Northern Dynasties, the scholarly public took tea as the "flavor of China".
The Tang and Song dynasties are the heyday of our food culture. The flourishing of commerce and handicrafts, the development of land and water transportation and the rise of cities contributed to the development of the food industry. Tang Dynasty is the formation of China's tea culture, known as the "tea saint" Lu Yu written by the "Tea Classic" came out, so that China's tea culture into a new realm, that is, from drinking to tasting, from a habit, hobby sublimation for a cultivation, a culture. To the Song Dynasty, tea has become a necessity of people's lives, especially in the Song Dynasty porcelain eating utensils with its exquisite nourished our food culture. Dietary culture and life has become an important social and cultural activities of the literati, literati people on the diet of food, delicious, beautiful ware, beautiful environment, strengthening the aesthetic nature of food culture.
Ming and Qing dynasties, food culture has been further developed, the content is more colorful. Whether it is the court diet, aristocratic diet and official diet, or ethnic diet, local diet and folk diet have appeared a booming trend. Especially after the unification of the Qing Dynasty, the food culture presents a blend of northern and southern cuisine in a furnace, which is typically represented by the emergence of the Manchu-Han banquet. The Manchu banquet is known for its ceremonial grandeur, expensive materials, dishes, the scene of rich and famous, is comparable to the prestigious French cuisine, one of China's famous dishes.
Three, the basic characteristics of Chinese food culture
Chinese food culture is based on the extensive dietary practices of Chinese ancestors through the ages, it is an important reflection of human survival and development, and is closely related to people's material and spiritual life, with distinctive features.
First of all, Chinese food culture is an ancient and young culture, which has the charm and charisma of endless life. Chinese food culture has a long history, arising as early as the beginning of the ancient Chinese forefathers' own eating activities, "it is the first flower of human life". At the same time, along with the development and progress of ancient Chinese society, both food utensils and food rituals have been constantly developing and enriching. Chinese food culture is closely connected with people's social life, is endless and has strong vitality.
Secondly, Chinese food culture is a self-contained cultural form with unique characteristics. Food culture is a cultural form that spans many fields of material and spiritual culture and has its own unique connotation and extension, and it is a cultural form that forms its own network and has a unique charm. Its development is closely related to socio-economic development, scientific and technological progress, land development and agricultural production, and the organic combination of these basic factors constitutes its parent body and at the same time defines its characteristics. Chinese food culture is formed under the influence of China's specific material environment and many factors, so in the Chinese food culture there is a diet, etiquette in place, the four seasons in order, three meals reasonable, pay attention to tableware, hygiene and delicious unique cultural tone and taste.
Once again, Chinese food culture is the yardstick of Chinese civilization and the embodiment of Chinese national characteristics. Food is the God of the people, and food occupies a very important position in people's lives. It not only meets people's physiological needs, but also is an important material means to improve human physique and promote wisdom creation, but also because of its rich cultural connotations, to a certain extent, also meets the pursuit of people's spiritual level, and it is a kind of important yardstick of human civilization. The food composition and dietary customs of a country and nation reflect the natural products, production conditions, cultural literacy and creative talents of the nation, as well as the achievements in utilizing and exploiting nature and national characteristics. Chinese food culture is an important part of the long and splendid culture of the Chinese nation, which marks the development process and progress of Chinese civilization in various historical periods, reflecting the fact that the Chinese nation has been a life-loving nation in pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty since ancient times, and embodying the creative spirit and unique style of the Chinese nation from one side.
Section II: Colorful Food Culture
Chinese food culture is famous all over the world for its long history, wide range of regions, large number of people eating, excellent cooking skills, beautiful nutritional dishes, and deep cultural connotations, and has become a pearl in the treasure house of human food culture.
I, the causes of food culture
China is a country that has always attached great importance to food, in the evolution of civilization for thousands of years, the formation of a rich and colorful food culture. China's long history of food, rich cultural deposits, so that China has won the world's "Kingdom of Cooking" reputation, Chinese cuisine is among the world's four famous dishes. Compared with the culinary arts of other countries or nations, Chinese cooking, whether in the selection of ingredients, cooking techniques, or in the design of dishes, the treatment of seasoning, as well as dishes on the brewing of the name, all have their own characteristics.
First of all, in terms of natural conditions, China's favorable geographic environment, the vastness of the land, the diversity of climate change, a wide variety of plant and animal species, for the selection of food ingredients to provide a rich and diverse sources.
Secondly, in terms of historical conditions, the stable and long agricultural life, and the tradition of emphasizing history, family, and traditional skills (including cooking, brewing, etc.) have allowed the "ancestral" cooking skills to be inherited and supplemented. The traditional Chinese way of eating a family **** meal, without sharing food, plays an important role in emotional communication and maintaining family unity.
Again on the political conditions, the centralized power of ancient China, the centralized power of the great unity of the force, the delicacies from all over the world gathered to the imperial aristocracy on the table, constituting a rich and colorful feast. China's food culture is based on the life of the scholar class, to the feudal dictatorship of the princes and nobles as an intermediary, especially in the court for the centralized representative of the accumulation, preservation, transmission and development of the meal. The luxury of the Chinese emperors was the highest expression of traditional Chinese food culture.
Finally, in terms of cultural conditions, the Chinese agricultural culture advocates "food is not too refined, chopping is not too fine", that food is the "great desire", "food for the people of heaven", and therefore Therefore, food is emphasized. Traditional Chinese food culture is enjoyed by a very small number of people. With a large population, abundant produce and a slow pace of life, time is the most worthless commodity. In order to fix a sumptuous banquet of mountain treasures and sea food, a lot of manpower and material resources were spent on carving and sculpting, striving to achieve flawlessness for the enjoyment of the dignitaries.
China's food culture, like music, dance, calligraphy, painting, theater, is an important part of China's thousands of years of splendid national cultural heritage, is a valuable tourism resources, has an important tourism development value.
Second, the main local flavor
For a long time, due to the selection of different raw materials, ingredients, using different cooking methods, thus forming their own unique flavor and different cuisines. In different historical periods, Chinese cuisine can be divided into different genres according to different categorization criteria. From the viewpoint of the nature of raw materials, Chinese cuisine can be divided into vegetarian dishes (court vegetarian dishes, temple vegetarian dishes, folk vegetarian dishes) and meat dishes; from the viewpoint of the utility of the dishes, Chinese cuisine can be divided into general dishes and health care and medical dishes; from the geographical point of view, Chinese cuisine can be divided into four major cuisines, i.e., Lu Cuisine, Su Cuisine, Szechuan Cuisine and Cantonese Cuisine. They are all formed in the long river of internal and external economic and cultural exchanges of each region, and have distinctive regional cultural characteristics. Here is a brief introduction to the four major cuisines.
1. Lu Cuisine
Lu Cuisine, also known as Shandong Cuisine, was developed from the local dishes of Jiaodong and Jinan. Lu cuisine flavor not only expanded to Beijing and Tianjin, but also spread to the White Mountains and Black Waters, becoming the most influential cuisine at that time. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Lu Cuisine became the main body of the imperial meals in the palace, and was the representative of the northern cuisine in China. It is characterized by: fine selection of materials, excellent soup making, famous for its fragrance, tenderness and pure flavor, and fullness and affordability. In addition, the Confucius Cuisine in Qufu, Shandong Province, also has an impact on the formation of Lu Cuisine. Now, Qufu according to the "Kongfu Archives" recorded in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Kongfu tribute to the emperor's menu and the Kong family daily feast recipes, imitation, popular with domestic and foreign tourists.
Lu Cuisine's representative dishes are: sweet and sour carp, Texas grilled chicken, pot stickers tofu, nine-turned large intestine, blanching red carp, braised prawns, oil explosion of conch, the Kongfu a pot of more than 20 flavors. Its snacks and snacks are: Zhoucun crispy biscuits, Wucheng warm cake, lotus leaf cake, Weixian kangzi head of fire, pancakes, pancakes, sugar-crisp pancakes, pot stickers, small dumplings in soup, blooming steamed buns, fried buns, Jinshi noodles, blanching noodles, fried noodles in custard, Fushan Ramen, Ponlai noodles, chicken grits, sweet foam, and so on.
2. Cantonese Cuisine
Cantonese Cuisine, also known as Guangdong Cuisine, is composed of Chaozhou, Guangzhou, Dongjiang (Huizhou) three major schools. Guangdong cuisine is characterized by a wide variety of ingredients, a large number of ingredients, emphasis on decorative, tender and smooth; good at stir-frying, good control of the fire, the oil temperature is just right; attention to seasonal combinations, summer and autumn to strive for light, winter and spring emphasize the rich and mellow. The Cantonese cuisine, represented by Guangzhou cuisine, has influenced Fujian, Taiwan, Qiong and Gui.
Guangzhou cuisine is characterized by fine production, colorful, emphasis on steaming and deep-frying, siu-chop is also very exquisite, colorful dishes in a vivid form. In terms of animal raw materials, in addition to pigs, cows, sheep, snakes, cats, rats, etc., especially snake into the dish, from a long time ago, the Western Han Dynasty, "Huainanzi" in the "Yue people to get the snake as a delicacy," so the folk have "food in Guangzhou," the reputation of the 18th and 19th centuries, with the opening of the country to foreign trade and the development of the Guangzhou dialect, Guangzhou cuisine is characterized by a wide range of different kinds of dishes. In the 18th and 19th centuries, with the foreign trade and "going to the South Seas", Cantonese cuisine gradually went global. It is said that there are thousands of Cantonese restaurants in New York alone. Teochew cuisine is famous for cooking seafood, with the most characteristic vegetable soup, fine knife work, strong sweetness, and attention to maintaining the original flavor of the main ingredients. Dongjiang cuisine is heavy in oil, salty in taste, with prominent main ingredients, simple and generous, with a local flavor.
Representative dishes include: crispy suckling pig, Baiyun pork knuckles, dragon and tiger battles, roasted goose, snake soup, chicken, apricot chicken feet stewed sea dogs, Dinghu on the veggie, Dongjiang salt-baked chicken, the protector of the country, crispy fried pigeons and other more than 20 flavors. Its dim sum snacks include: Chengzhu Chicken Cake, Egg Cake, Pan-fried Mound, Ice Pork Thousand Layer Cake, Daliang Paste Pancake, Crispy Lotus Seed Paste Buns, Barbecued Pork Buns, Pink Fruit, Lunjiao Cake, Horseshoe Cake, Intestinal Vermicelli, Beehive Taro Corner, Muffin Cake, Crab Roe Filled Soup Dumplings, Thin-skinned Fresh Shrimp Dumplings, Steamed Shaoxing Dumplings, Shah Heung Vermicelli, Rice in Lotus Leaf, and Congee, Boat Congee, and Double Skinned Milk of Daliang.
3. Sichuan Cuisine
Sichuan Cuisine, also known as Sichuan Cuisine, represented by Chengdu, Chongqing cuisine, enjoys a high reputation in China. Sichuan cuisine attaches importance to the selection of materials, specifications, consistent, colorful dishes, bright and colorful coordination, since ancient times, "still taste", "good spicy" dietary tradition. It is characterized by: spicy, fish, strong flavor, focus on seasoning, inseparable from the "three peppers" (i.e., chili, pepper, pepper) and fresh ginger, spicy, sour, numb, fragrant popular, and has always enjoyed the "a dish of a pattern, a hundred dishes, a hundred flavors," the reputation of the local flavor is very strong, there is a "food in China, taste in Sichuan! The local flavor is very rich, and it has the reputation of "food in China, taste in Sichuan". Therefore, some people summarize the characteristics of Sichuan cuisine as "fresh and clean see long, spicy see called". Sichuan cuisine also has influence on Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and Yunnan. Sichuan cuisine has a long history and has been around since the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, and nowadays Sichuan restaurants have spread all over the world.
Representative dishes include Kung Pao Chicken, Pork in Hot Pot, Shredded Pork with Fish Scent, Sliced Lungs for Husband and Wife, Mapo Tofu, Beef with Lamp Shadow, Mandarin Duck Hot Pot, Dry Roasted Rock Carp, Homemade Sea Cucumber, Sliced Meat in Hot Pot, and Dry Stir-fried Bamboo Shoots with More than 20 Flavors. Its dim sum snacks include: lotus leaf steamed cake, steamed cake, egg baked cake, egg iron cake, Qingcheng white fruit cake, Chongqing frozen cake, pot helmet, Yibin burnt noodle, dragon handrail, dumpling with red oil, glass dumpling, dan dan noodles, lai dumplings, sesame seed dumplings, Guanghan Sanhe mud, Sichuan cold noodles, steamed beef in a small cage, and Shunqing mutton noodle, and so on.
Characteristics of Chinese food culture
Chinese food culture in the long history of the development process has formed a very distinctive national characteristics, mainly in the following areas:
1. Five flavors and harmony is the biggest feature of Chinese food culture
Chinese food culture in cooking, whether the pursuit of taste, or the production of dishes are to five flavors and harmony as the highest principle. The highest principle of Chinese food culture is the harmonization of five flavors. The principle of harmony of the five flavors runs through the whole of Chinese food culture and is the essence of Chinese food culture.
The harmony of the five flavors is first of all to meet the needs of people's dietary tastes and the requirements of the choice of food ingredients. Five flavors, refers to sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, salty; five flavors and harmony means that these five tastes have changes, but also can be reasonable, to maintain and play the original taste of food or true taste. Five flavors and harmony should also be in line with the seasonal order, the choice of food ingredients, different seasons have different emphasis, "Li Ji? Inside the rules" in the "where and, spring more acid, summer more bitter, autumn more pungent, winter more salty, adjusted to slippery sweet" said, emphasizing the need to meet people's taste needs, but also with the four seasons and human physiological needs in harmony. Harmony of the five flavors is also a requirement for the cooking process. The second book of Lü Shi Chun Qiu (The Spring and Autumn Annals of Lu Shi) describes the process of cooking. The second filial piety line has described the process and requirements: who puts the five flavors first and then puts them, how to master the timing, put more or less, how to mix to be appropriate, are very delicate. In the cooking process, the pot of unusually subtle changes difficult to understand in words, the key lies in the cook to grasp the appropriate "degree", so that the dishes have a "long but not bad, cooked but not rotten, sweet but not muttered, sour but not cool," the best characteristics, the purpose of which is to neutralize all the flavors into a coordinated organism. The aim is to neutralize the flavors into a harmonious organism.
2. The pursuit of color, aroma, taste, shape, utensils, the organic unity of the gastronomic view
Chinese food culture has a strong aesthetic function, not only the pursuit of the beauty of the five flavors and harmony, there is a preference for color, aroma, taste, shape, utensils, the integrated beauty of the environment, which is the aesthetic cultural characteristics of the Chinese food culture. Chinese cooking has been called "the art of eating" and "the aesthetics of eating". In the Chinese diet in the color of the beauty in the first place, visible color to touch the appetite of the importance of Confucius put forward the "color is not food", the color of the dishes with the combination of the advantages and disadvantages of the feast is often the key to the success of the feast or not. The aroma of the dishes can trigger people's desire and motivation to taste the dishes, and at the same time, the feeling of the fragrance can deepen and promote people's aesthetic pleasure of color and shape. The pleasure in food is dominated by "taste", and the deliciousness combined with color, fragrance and shape is the culmination of the aesthetic feeling of food, and "heavy taste" is one of the main characteristics of Chinese food culture that distinguishes it from Western food culture. The beauty of shape helps to create the aesthetic mood and atmosphere of food. Delicious food with food, as if the qin and sepulchral harmony, complement each other, and reflect each other's interest. Realm of beauty, mainly refers to the elegant and harmonious dietary space environment and emotional environment, which can make the feast and drink icing on the cake, people free God happy feelings.
Color, aroma, taste, shape, ware, the harmonious unity of the beauty of the realm, so that the dietary activities are not only to meet the physiological needs of the behavior, but also has an obvious aesthetic appreciation, aesthetic experience of the value of the culinary and banqueting design and arrangement of the significance of artistic creation.
3.*** food with the meal way of eating
Chinese people treat food, never just as a means of food, but used to use it as a contact with people's feelings of the bond. In the way of eating, more like "*** food" way. Although Westerners also have the same table and food, but each ate each of the "separate meals" to eat, and the Chinese people eat a dish, *** drink a soup is different. Although the "meal" eating method from the point of view of health is unscientific, but the Chinese banquet in the "*** food" is the pursuit of a realm of life. Ancient Chinese monarchs through the feast "to pass the upper and lower feelings", in order to obtain the country's long-term peace and security; folk feast is through the eating and drinking contact feelings, clearing the gap, and family harmony, neighbors and even national unity. Whether it is the literati and scholars of the feast of the chanting and singing, or the folk games of the game of wine shop competing with each other, in the different flavors of the dishes *** with the taste, in the poetic atmosphere of the feast, to achieve the harmony between man and nature, people and people in the beauty of the realm of life.
Confucius said more than 2,000 years ago, "Friends come from afar, not happy!" This sentence centers on the tradition of hospitality of Chinese people. China's modern tourism food culture still follow this tradition, warm reception of travelers from all over the world, the pursuit of feelings of harmony in the feast, the atmosphere of cordiality, the host and guest of emotional exchanges and communication. But in the diet should fully respect the eating habits of the guests, in the "*** food" way to use public chopsticks, or to maintain the form of *** food and the use of separate meal eating, so that Western travelers feel the harmony of China's food culture and poetic atmosphere, but also in the psychological and customary adaptation, but also to make the contemporary Chinese culinary culture to adapt to Modern people's pursuit of hygienic quality of life.
Broad and profound wine culture
Chinese wine has a long history of more than 5,000 years, and in the long process of development has formed a unique style, giving birth to the glorious Chinese wine culture. As a special form of culture, wine culture has a special position in traditional Chinese culture, penetrating into almost every field of social life. From wine, one can learn about all aspects of Chinese society, politics, economy, agriculture, commerce, history and culture, etc. Valuable information can be found in wine culture. Wine is a splendid flower in food culture and a symbol of social civilization.
I. Formation of Wine Culture
Wine is a beverage made from raw materials such as sorghum, wheat, rice, grapes or other fruits, etc. through saccharification and fermentation, which contains edible alcohol (ethanol more than one degree before it can be called wine) and other ingredients. From the point of view of brewing technology, China is one of the first countries in the world to know the technology of brewing. As early as the middle of the Neolithic Age, our ancestors already knew how to make wine. However, it is still difficult to determine when and by whom artificial brewing began. There are Yidi brewing said, there are also Dukang brewing said, later generations have been Yidi, Dukang worship as the god of wine. In addition, there are "apes and monkeys to make wine" said, the Yellow Emperor said wine. Although there are different opinions, domestic scholars generally believe that China's winemaking was a more developed industry during the Longshan Culture. In terms of its development, Chinese wine can be divided into five stages: enlightenment, growth, maturity, development and prosperity.
From the Yangshao culture of the Neolithic Age to the beginning of the Xia Dynasty is the Enlightenment Period. This period for the late primitive society, the ancestors with moldy but germinated grains to make wine. The prerequisites for artificial brewing were the development of agricultural civilization and the emergence of pottery. In the Yangshao culture site, there are both pottery pots and cups. From this, it can be deduced that artificial brewing began about 6,000 years ago.
From the Xia Dynasty to the Qin Dynasty, about 1,800 years, is the growth period of Chinese wine. During this period, the invention of the quill in the brewing industry made China the first country to use the quill to brew wine, as there were already five grains and six animals in agriculture. At the same time, with the rapid development of the brewing process, accelerated the brewing industry began as an independent handmade sector and the pace of agricultural separation, the court began to set up officials to rule the wine, to take charge of important state affairs and the royal family's drinking activities. The setting up of wine officials marked the establishment of winemaking as an independent craft sector, which played an important role in standardizing and improving winemaking technology, and summarizing and promoting winemaking experience.
The Zhou people were agriculture-oriented and believed that a lot of food would be wasted by brewing and drinking, which was an intolerable "sin". In order to save food and accumulate national strength, the early years of the Western Zhou promulgated the first alcohol prohibition code in the history of our country - the "Wine Grant", which stipulated very strict measures to prohibit alcohol. The Western Zhou Dynasty, from the establishment of officials to ban alcohol by law, marks the wine culture and institutional culture running in tandem, which has had an extremely far-reaching impact on China's wine policy over the past several thousand years. Under the direct influence of ritual culture, the rulers of the Western Zhou also vigorously advocated the virtue of wine and the ritual of wine, whose purpose was to prohibit the indiscriminate consumption of wine in addition to the division of superiority and inferiority. The "wine rites" and "wine morality" advocated by the Western Zhou later merged with the ethical and moral thoughts of Confucianism, and became the biggest feature of Chinese wine culture distinguishing itself from that of the West over the past thousands of years. The development of the wine industry in the Western Zhou Dynasty basically laid down two directions for the development of Chinese wine culture: one is the use of fermentation, from ancient times to the present day, this is the fundamental difference between China's national wines - Huangjiu and Baijiu - and the production process of foreign wines fermented with strains of bacteria; the second is the brewing of wine, drinking and use of alcohol into the legal system, rituals and etiquette of the track, greatly increasing the This has greatly increased the spiritual and cultural value of wine and reduced the negative effects of wine. Over the past thousands of years, Chinese wine culture has gone through countless development changes, but all changes are the same, it is always along these two directions of constant change, zigzag development, and gradual improvement. In addition, because of the Shang and Zhou times have wine and color chaos, the death of the country's example, the Qin and Han Dynasties and the emergence of conspiracy "Hongmen Banquet", so people still have a certain degree of wariness of wine, but also to the brewing industry to bring certain obstacles to the development of the big.
From the Qin Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty, about 1200 years, ushered in the maturity of Chinese wine. During this period, the Han and Tang dynasties were in full bloom, with economic and trade development, the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures, the emergence of Li Bai, Du Fu, Du Mu, Su Dongpo and other wine heroes, coupled with the two-century-long war between the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin Dynasties, disillusioned writers to drown their sorrows in wine, and drinking wildly, which, from the other side of the coin, also contributed to the great development of the wine industry. The culture of drinking was not only limited to the upper class, but also widely spread to the people. As the demand for liquor increased greatly, it laid the social and material foundation for the invention and development of Chinese liquor. In the Mawangdui Western Han Dynasty tombs unearthed in the "health prescriptions" and "miscellaneous therapeutic prescriptions", it is recorded that people have a certain depth of understanding of the medicinal functions of wine. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, wine is a common theme on the portrait stones and bricks. The most striking is the Shandong Zhucheng Liangtai unearthed "kitchen map" in the brewing scene, it is the whole process of brewing the depiction. Qimin yaojutsu" and other scientific and technical books about food and wine-making came out, providing a theoretical basis for the maturation of the Chinese wine industry.
The period from the Northern Song Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, which lasted for more than 800 years, was a period of development for Chinese liquor. During this period, distillers were introduced into China from the Western regions, providing a material basis for the invention of Chinese liquor. Baijiu is also known as shaojiu, white dry wine. The Compendium of Materia Medica states: "Shaojiu is not an ancient method, but has been created since the Yuan Dynasty." From the excavation of this period of many small wine vessels to judge, the higher degree of liquor has been rapidly popularized to the general public. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, with sorghum as raw material, with barley as the quartz, with the distillation method of shochu gradually replace the yellow wine and occupy a dominant position in the north, the development of the fast. At the same time with the development of distilled liquor, yellow wine, wine, fruit wines, medicinal wines can also improve the development of China's liquor culture ushered in a brilliant and colorful era.
After the Opium War in 1840, the fifth stage of China's liquor development was called the boom period. Traditional Chinese brewing techniques and advanced Western brewing techniques interacted with each other and competed with each other. Whisky, brandy, vodka and Japanese sake were imported into China, which not only led to the emergence of new varieties of traditional Chinese liquor, but also the rapid development of old liquor brands such as Bamboo Leaf Green and Wujiapi, each showing its own advantages and characteristics. After the founding of new China, especially since the reform and opening up, China's brewing industry ushered in an era of prosperity. in the early 90's, China's annual output of liquor has reached more than 7.2 million tons, accounting for about 40% of the world's total output of spirits, ranking first.