The legend of the origin of brewing, in ancient times, often attributed the origin of brewing to the invention of someone, and described these people as the ancestors of brewing, which became an orthodox view because of its great influence. For these views, Song & gt once questioned the quality, saying 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.
1 brewing in one place
According to legend, during the Xia and Yu Dynasties, Yidi invented wine making. The history book of the 2nd century BC> As the saying goes, "One brother makes wine". & gt further explained: "In those days, the emperor's daughter asked Yidi to make the wine beautiful, and when she entered Yu, Yu drank it and was willing to make it. On this day:' There must be a country that drinks wine in the future. "Therefore, I neglected etiquette and morality, but I never wanted to drink" (Emperor in Xia Nai).
2 Du Kang Brewing.
Another legend holds that wine-making started in Du Kang (also from Xia Dynasty). In the eastern Han dynasty, << explains Chinese characters >>, among the entries to interpret the word "wine" are: "Du Kang is wine." & lt& ltShiben >> also said the same thing.
Wine-making began in the period of the Yellow Emperor.
Another legend shows that people began to make wine in the era of the Yellow Emperor. & gt recorded the scene of Huangdi and Qibo discussing wine making. & gt also mentioned an ancient wine-fermented cheese, which is sweet wine made from animal milk. The Yellow Emperor is the ancestor of the Chinese nation, and many inventions appeared in the period of the Yellow Emperor. & lt& lt Huangdi Neijing; This book is actually the work of the Yellow Emperor by later generations, and its credibility needs to be verified.
4 wine and heaven and earth at the same time
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."
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 from many years ago have been unearthed. & lt& lt>8 August 23rd, 1987, "The oldest writing in China was discovered in Juxian County, Shandong Province", with the subtitle "Brewing utensils discovered at the same time 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.
The above archaeological data confirmed that the brewing industry did exist in the period of the Yellow Emperor and Yu Xia in ancient legends.
Modern Scholars' Views on the Origin of Brewing
1 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 is fully equipped to produce these works.
Jiang Tong of the Jin Dynasty in China was>, which said: "The prosperity of wine originated from the emperor, or the clouds of Yidi and Dukang." When the food is endless, the mulberry leaves are empty, making it taste fragrant and fragrant for a long time. That's the truth, and it's not a miracle. "Here, the ancients put forward the view that leftovers are naturally fermented into wine, which is in line with scientific truth and actual situation. Jiang Tong was the first person to put forward the theory of grain natural fermentation in Chinese history. In a word, people began to brew cereal wine, not for invention, but for 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, and 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.
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 was> According to records, Yamanashi was stored in a clay pot and turned into pear wine. In the preface of Yuan Haowen & gt in Yuan Dynasty, it is also recorded that a peach piled up in a jar by a mountain man turned into a fragrant wine because of his refuge in 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 natural microorganisms, it is easy to naturally ferment to produce fragrant and delicious fruit wine. In addition, animal milk contains protein and toffee, which can be easily fermented into wine. Ancestors who lived by hunting may also get milk wine from the retained milk by accident. In << Huangdi Neijing >; There is a kind of "fermented cheese" in Chinese, which is the earliest record of milk wine in China. According to ancient legends and brewing principles, the most primitive wine varieties that humans consciously brew 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?
To explore the origin of grain brewing, there are two questions worth thinking about: when did grain brewing originate? What is the oldest cereal wine in China? The latter question is introduced in the beer part of Chapter 5.
There are two diametrically opposed views on when grain brewing began.
The traditional view on the origin of wine-making is that wine-making developed after farming, which was put forward as early as Liu An years in Han Dynasty. There is a saying in China that "the beauty of purity begins with thunder". 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. 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 grain cultivation may also open up a new road. 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.
The invention of China wine has always been said to have originated in Du Kang. In Cao Cao's poems and poems, there is a famous saying, "How to solve your worries, only Du Kang". Du Kang was born in Xia Dynasty. According to legend, he was also a king. According to the available information, it is difficult to get what you want. The problem is that if wine started in the Xia Dynasty, archaeologists would laugh their heads off. 、
The exact time of brewing, of course, is impossible to verify. However, according to archaeological findings, wine-making began in Taihu Lake area 6000 years ago. In Songze culture, filters specially used for brewing have been found repeatedly. /kloc-in the spring of 0/999, a piece was found at Longzhaodun site in Zhouzhuang, Jiangyin. Its diameter is close to 30 cm, and it is shaped like a bowl. There is a perfusion at the mouth, with the bottom as the center, and many radially distributed grooves are carved on the inner wall of the wine container. The ancients put rice into a filter for fermentation, and after the wine was produced, it seeped down the groove. When drinking, just pour it on the cup.
This kind of brewer was found in many places in southern Jiangsu, and then spread to the middle reaches of the Yellow River through northern Jiangsu, that is, the second phase of Miaodigou culture, so the Yellow River basin began to make wine. However, because most of the Yellow River valley plants dry crops, rice cultivation is not common, and the brewing of dry crops is much more difficult than rice. Therefore, before the Longshan culture period (4,000 years ago), the brewing in the Central Plains was not popular. It was not until the Longshan culture period that the problem of millet brewing was solved that a large number of wine vessels appeared in the Central Plains. At this time, the ancient residents of Taihu Lake area had drunk the wine for 2000 years. Therefore, attributing the invention of wine to Du Kang is just another example of the northern rulers tampering with history and belittling the four barbarians.
There is a causal relationship between abundant food and wine making. Jiangyin, a land of fish and rice, has a long history of drinking and seems to be better than other places. 1998 145 During the excavation of Huashan site in Ting Yun, a broken individual winemaker was found in a small ash ditch (garbage ditch). From the field observation, there were several winemakers in Huashan about 3800 years ago. This brewer is a little more exquisite than that of 6000 years ago, and the grooves are denser, so the wine poured out is clearer and there is not much wine residue. Such a large number has never been seen in the ruins of the same period in China, which shows that Jiangyin people are good at drinking.
The birth of Jiangyin black wine is said to have been made by accident after Du Kang hastily fried glutinous rice. Is that so? I don't think so. Lu Yao, a famous writer, broke down from constant overwork when he wrote Ordinary World. He was bedridden and failed for a long time. After the treatment of an old Chinese doctor surnamed Zhang in Yulin, he recovered his spirit and returned to work in a short time. In his article "Morning Begins at Noon", he said: There are two kinds of medicines prescribed by old Chinese medicine, one is fried glutinous rice. Lu Yao said that after taking the medicine for several months, the dirty poison in my heart turned into black sputum and spit it out. From this, I think it is absolutely no accident that Jiangyin black wine takes fried glutinous rice as raw material, but it should be that Jiangyin, an ancient wine town, has absorbed the essence of China traditional medicine-"careful brewing". No wonder when Xu Xiake travels around the world, he is not only obsessed with black wine, but also often proudly recommends black wine from his hometown to friends far away.