In ancient times, the origin of wine-making was often attributed to the invention of someone, who was described as the ancestor of wine-making and became an orthodox view because of their great influence. For these views, the Song Dynasty's Wine Spectrum once questioned that "none of them are enough for textual research, but they are redundant". Although this is not enough to verify, as a cultural identity phenomenon, it may be listed below. There are mainly the following legends.

1, brewing in one place

According to legend, during the Xia and Yu Dynasties, Yidi invented wine making. The history book Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals in the second century BC said, "Yidi makes wine". The Warring States Policy, edited by Liu Xiang in the Han Dynasty, further explained: "In the past, the emperor's daughter asked Yidi to make wine beautifully, and when she entered Yu, Yu drank it and was willing to drink it. Japan:' Some people will drink it in the future and become a country.' Therefore, I will spare no effort to brew wine (Emperor Xia Nai).

2. Brewing in Du Kang

Another legend holds that wine-making started in Du Kang (also from Xia Dynasty). The entry explaining the word "wine" in Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Eastern Han Dynasty includes: "Du Kang made wine." "Shiben" also has the same statement.

3. Brewing began in the period of the Yellow Emperor.

Another legend shows that people began to make wine in the era of the Yellow Emperor. Su Wen in Huangdi Neijing of Han Dynasty recorded the scene of Huangdi and Qi Bo discussing wine making. Huangdi Neijing also mentioned an ancient wine-fermented cheese, which is a sweet wine made of animal milk. Huangdi is the same ancestor of the Chinese nation, and many inventions and creations appeared in the period of Huangdi. The book Huangdi Neijing is actually the work of Huangdi by later generations, and its credibility needs to be verified.

4. Wine coexists with heaven and earth.

A more mythical saying is that "there is a wine star in the sky, and wine is also made, which is in harmony with heaven and earth."

& amp://.artx./

Although these legends are different, they generally show that wine-making existed as early as the Xia Dynasty or earlier, which is credible and has been confirmed by archaeologists. The Xia Dynasty was about four years ago. At present, wine-making utensils dating back to five years have been unearthed. (Xinmin Evening News1August 23, 987, The Oldest Writing Found in China in Juxian County, Shandong Province, subtitled "Brewing Instruments Found Five Years ago").

This discovery shows that wine-making in China began at least five years ago, and the origin of wine-making was of course before this. In ancient times, people may first come into contact with some naturally fermented wines and then imitate them. This process may take a long time.

Second, archaeological data prove the origin of brewing

The two premises of grain brewing are brewing raw materials and brewing containers.

The following typical Neolithic cultural periods have certain reference function to the origin of wine making.

(1) Pei Ligang cultural period (5000-6000 BC)

② Hemudu Cultural Period (4000-500 BC)

The above two cultural periods

There are pottery and crop remains, and there are material conditions for wine making.

(3) magnetic mountain culture period.

From 7355 to 7235, magnetic mountain culture had a developed agricultural economy. According to the statistics of relevant experts, the "grain accumulation is 100m3, which is equivalent to 50,000 Jin" found in the site, and some pottery similar in shape to later wine vessels were also found. Some people think that during magnetic mountain culture's time, it was very possible to make wine with grains.

(4) Sanxingdui Site

The site is located in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, and the buried objects are relics from 4800 BC to 2870 BC. A large number of pottery and bronze wine vessels, such as cups, jars and pots, have been unearthed in this site. Its large shape is also rare for prehistoric cultural relics.

(5) Dawenkou Cultural Tomb of Lingyin River in Juxian County, Shandong Province

During the period of 1979, archaeologists excavated 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 combined wine vessel, including a large pottery figurine for brewing and fermentation, a leaky jar for filtering wine, a pottery urn for storing wine, and a cooker pottery tripod for cooking materials. All kinds of drinking utensils/kloc-more than 0/00 pieces. According to the analysis of archaeologists, the owner of the tomb may have been a professional winemaker before his death (Wang Shuming: Brewing in the Late Dawenkou Culture, China Cooking, 1987.9). There is also a picture engraved on the wall of the unearthed pottery cylinder, which is analyzed as a wine filter.

During the Longshan culture period, there were more wine vessels. Domestic scholars generally believe that wine-making in Longshan culture period is a relatively developed industry.

The above archaeological data confirmed that the brewing industry did exist in the period of the Yellow Emperor and Yu Xia in ancient legends.

Third, modern scholars' views on the origin of wine making.

Wine is a natural product.

Recently, scientists discovered that in the long universe, some celestial bodies are made of alcohol. The alcohol contained in it, if made into beer, can be used by human beings for hundreds of millions of years. What does this mean? It can just be used to show that wine is a natural product of nature. Man didn't invent wine, he just discovered it. The main component of wine is alcohol (scientific name is ethanol, molecular formula is C2H5OH), and many substances can be converted into alcohol in many ways. For example, glucose can be converted into alcohol under the action of enzymes secreted by microorganisms; As long as certain conditions are met, some substances can be converted into alcohol. Nature fully possesses the foundation of these conditions.

Jiang Tong of Jin Dynasty in China wrote in "Wine Classics and Wine": "The prosperity of wine comes from the emperor, or the cloud of emperor change, 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. 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.

Fruit wine and milk wine-the first generation of beverage wine

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 more sugar (such as glucose, fructose) 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.

3. Did grain wine-making start in farming time or before farming time?

There are two diametrically opposed views on when grain brewing began.

The traditional view of the origin of wine-making is that wine-making developed after farming, which was put forward as early as the Han Dynasty. Liu An in the Han Dynasty said in Huai Nan Zi: "The beauty of modesty begins with Reggie". Many modern scholars hold the same view, and some even think that wine-making began when agriculture developed to a certain extent and there was surplus grain.

Another view is that grain brewing precedes farming. For example, 1937, an archaeologist in China, Mr. Wu Qichang, once put forward an interesting point: "Our ancestors first planted rice seeds and millet for brewing, not cooking. Eating is really brought out by drinking. " This view is very popular abroad, but there has been no evidence. Half a century later, Dr. Solomon Katz, an anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania, 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.