Author: Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Zhou Changqing
Nearly a thousand years ago, Ouyang Xiu, a major minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote a five-word poem after he sent an envoy to the Liao State. This great writer would never have imagined that his poem "Ice Shochu Chi" would become an important evidence for today's researchers to solve the mystery of the origin of Chinese liquor.
A recent archaeological study has pushed the history of the emergence of baijiu from the Liaojin period to the Liao Dynasty. Feng Enxue, a professor at the Frontier Archaeology Research Center of Jilin University, and Gu Jiao, a doctoral candidate, pointed out in their co-authored paper "Research on the Remains of "Ice Shochu" in the Liao Dynasty" that most of the cellar coins excavated from the ruins of the distillery in Da'an City, Jilin Province, were Northern Song Dynasty copper coins used by the Liao State. The simulation experiment revived the Liao Dynasty distillation process, and Ouyang Xiu's poem describing the Khitan customs, "Ice Shochu Chi", not only pushes the history of the emergence of liquor from the previous Liaojin period to the Liao Dynasty, but also further confirms the local origin of Chinese liquor.
The Liao Dynasty shochu utensils (restored) excavated in Da'an City are recognized as the earliest liquor brewing cultural relics found in China so far. Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Zhou Changqing photographed
The secret behind a can of coins
Located in the west of Jilin Province, on the banks of the Nen River, da'an distillery dug out two large iron pots and more than 410 stove stones during the construction of the infrastructure. In 2012, after conducting an archaeological survey led by a team led by Feng Enxue, it was determined that it was the site of a shochu workshop in the Liaojin period, and its complete set of shochu pots and pans was the only one among all the winemaking remains currently found in China, and its era was close to the initial time of the origin of Chinese liquor.
In March 2014, in the courtyard of Da'an Distillery, 20 meters away from the iron pot stove, a clay pot was found in an earthen pit containing copper coins, the number of which amounted to more than 4,000, most of which could be identified.
In ancient China, many dynasties minted coins, which is strong evidence of the dating of archaeological research. According to Feng Enxue, the Liao State itself minted a small amount of coins, basically circulating coins from the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty. The study found that in addition to the 37 Tang Dynasty "Kaiyuan Tongbao" excavated coins, the coins unearthed in Da'an were all Northern Song Copper Coins, and from the "Chunhua Yuanbao" in the Taizong period to the "Zhenghe Tongbao" in the Huizong period, the sequence of era numbers was basically continuous, containing a total of 26 coins, involving 7 emperors and 19 era numbers, and the minting age was from 990 to 1117 AD.
According to expert analysis, the coin cellar is mostly buried in a hurry when the owner encounters a major emergency, and it is too late to carry or transfer heavy coins, which is generally related to war and military disasters. Among the coins in the cellar of the ruins of the Da'an Distillery, the latest is "Zhenghe Tongbao", and the minting date is from 1111 to 1117 AD, during which time there was indeed a major war near Da'an, that is, the "Battle of The River Shop": in October of the fourth year of Liaotianqing (1114), the jurchen leader Quanyan Aku raised an army against the Liao, and defeated the Liao army with less victory than much at the "Chuhedian" on the Nen River. This battle strengthened the confidence of the Jurchens in defeating the Khitans, and established the Great Golden Kingdom on the first day of the first month of the following year. Later, Jin Taizong built Zhaozhou City to commemorate this battle, and the Da'an Distillery is only 10 kilometers away from the ruins of this city.
Feng Enxue speculated that the owner of the coins stored in the Da'an Distillery should have fled after being affected by the battle between the two armies in the "Battle of The River Shop", and hastily buried the coins on the spot. This war occurred during the political and harmonious years of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the latest song coins to be stored were also "political and tongbao", and the Subsequent Northern Song coins were not found. Historical documents and coins corroborate the burial date of this cellar as 1114 AD.
As an expert in Liaojin archaeology, Professor Feng Enxue believes that the porcelain urns, plate ear iron pots and pottery pieces excavated by Da'an Distillery in 2006 are common to the Liao and Jin dynasties, and the grate-toothed gray pottery pieces are typical artifacts of the Khitan culture and are unique to the Liao Dynasty. After carbon 14 testing by Peking University, the plate ear iron pot is a relic of the Liao Dynasty. No relics belonging to the Jin Dynasty have been found here. Combined with the study of the chronology of newly discovered numismatic cellars, the age range of the site has been reduced from the Liao-Jin period to the late Liao Dynasty.
The distillery in Da'an City, Jilin Province, imitated the ancient method of "ice shochu" in the Liao Dynasty to conduct shochu experiments. Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Zhou Changqing photographed
A windfall from one trial
Kong Linghai, director of Daan Distillery, consulted a large number of traditional winemaking materials in order to explore the ancient distillation method, designed a set of equipment to restore the ancient distillation process of the Liao Dynasty according to the Liao Dynasty winemaking cultural relics excavated by the factory, and conducted the first Liao Dynasty ancient shochu simulation test on April 14, 2014.
The test was conducted in the courtyard of Daan Distillery, when the temperature was 10 °C. Workers inject cold water into the "heavenly pot" of the shochu distillation equipment for cooling. After 5 minutes of the start of the test, the deflector began to emit alcohol, followed by a hot liquor, which was measured to be 72 degrees alcohol. However, the cold water in the "heavenly pot" quickly became hot, and the flow of wine in the diversion pipe gradually became thinner to stop flowing. The workers scooped out some of the hot water in the "heavenly pot" and added cold water, but only the white wine vapor came out of the diversion pipe, and no wine flowed out. In a hurry, Kong Linghai looked around and saw that there were unmelted ice lumps under the corners of the courtyard wall, and immediately called for people to take the ice lumps and smash them into the "Heavenly Cauldron". The water temperature in the pot immediately dropped, and the diversion pipe began to flow out of the wine again, which lasted until the end of the test without adding ice to change the water. The secondary outflow of the wine head liquid was measured at 45 degrees. This test uses 50 kilograms of sorghum and yellow rice raw materials to ferment 200 kilograms of sake, a total of 18 kilograms of wine.
According to the conclusion of experts, the characteristics of the ancient distillation process of the Liao Dynasty can be summarized as: solid fermentation, pot-type distillation apparatus, "heavenly pot" with ice refrigeration, and can be distilled with fermented sake to produce highly shochu. This method is simple and practical, ensuring the smoothness of wine production and improving the wine production rate. In the course of the experiment, there was a scene of cutting ice and refrigerating in a hurry, which coincided with the description of Ouyang Xiu's poem "Ice Shochu Chi", which was a major windfall.
The origin of Chinese shochu (that is, liquor) is a long-standing topic of debate in the academic community, with different opinions, such as Han, Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan and other views in time, and "foreign speaking" and "local theory" in the source, of which the saying "imported from Arabia in the Yuan Dynasty" is the most widely circulated. The British historian Joseph Needham, a book on the history of science and technology in China, said of the origin of Chinese shochu that "this may be the most challenging and unanswered question in the history of Chinese chemistry and food science."
In July 2014, the China Liquor Industry Association held an expert appraisal meeting on the restoration of the distillation process of Liao Dynasty liquor in Da'an City, and Wang Yancai, chairman of the association, and Gao Yueming, a liquor expert, unanimously recognized the cultural, archaeological and industrial value of the simulated test of the liao dynasty shochu distiller copied. They believe that this is the first time that China has completely reproduced the whole process of producing distilled shochu in the Liao Dynasty period. The process of "ice shochu" has completed the technological transformation of China from traditional rice wine liquid fermentation to solid fermentation, from pressing wine to large-scale distillation, laying the foundation for the high commercial supply of wine.
Last year, the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism listed the "Ice Shochu" and "Millennium Shochu Ruins" in the Tourist Scenic Spot of the Western Ring Road of Jilin Province, and also sent experts to rescue and protect the relevant cultural relics exhibited at the Da'an Winemaking Museum.
The Cultural "Code" in Verse
In 1005 AD, a far-reaching event occurred on the land of China: the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao State were exhausted after years of war and signed the "Alliance of The Yuanyuan". This peace treaty allowed the two sides to coexist peacefully for more than 100 years, each concentrating on development. Because the Liao state minted not many copper coins, mostly used Song coins and coins of previous dynasties, in the mutual market trade, copper coins became one of the bulk goods exported by the Northern Song Dynasty to Liao, and even because of the large number of copper coins smuggled out, the Northern Song Dynasty also produced a "money shortage".
After the normalization of relations between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao, envoys from both sides exchanged frequently, reaching more than 380 times. There are experts who have studied and sent envoys to the Khitan Of the Northern Song Dynasty, and there are more than 700 people recorded in history, including Wang Anshi, Ouyang Xiu, Bao Zheng, Shen Kuo, Su Song, Su Rui and other important ministers and celebrities. Many cultural elites left a large number of poems in the process of envoys, or nostalgic objects, or remembering human feelings, which were collectively called "Liao poems" by later generations of researchers, and some of them became an important basis for examining historical places.
In the winter of the second year (1055) of the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, the 49-year-old Ouyang Xiu sent an envoy to the Liao State with the official titles of Hanlin Scholar, Official, Shiguan Xiuzhi, and Counselor Dafu, as "He Khitan Ascending to the Throne", specifically to congratulate Yelü Hongji on his ascension to the throne. Emperor Daozong of Liao attached great importance to Ouyang Xiu, received him beyond the specifications, and sent the emperor's uncle and the prime minister to accompany the banquet. On his way back in the early spring of the following year, Ouyang Xiu wrote the "Five Long Rhymes in the Fengzhi Daozhong", which contains the verse "Ice Shochu Red, Frozen Wisps of Frost Red", which is the only narrative sentence in the 20 long poems that describes the Khitan food customs. The author has witnessed a variety of Khitan diets, and only chooses these two customs to enter the poem, which must be the most unique Khitan rare in the southern country. "Frozen frost red" is relatively easy to interpret, meaning that frozen meat is cut into thin slices, thin wires, bright red, pointing out the Liao people's winter diet to eat meat and Song people's different characteristics. "Ice shochu red" has always been difficult to interpret.
Kong Linghai, Feng Enxue and others pointed out that if interpreted from the perspective of the Liao Dynasty shochu process of the simulation test of Da'an Distillery, this poem is suddenly enlightened. "Chopping ice", that is, chopping ice cubes to prepare shochu. "Shochu" is a verb meaning to ignite and distill the wine; "shochu" can also be used as a noun, for a wine that can burn, a pun. According to the Commentaries on the Interpretation of Texts, "red" has the meaning of "fiery red" and "red hot". Observing the scene simulation of the ancient method of distilling liquor in the Liao Dynasty, the five words of "ice shochu red" show the characteristics of preparation, steaming and wine production, grasping the characteristics of fire distillation, cooling with ice, and hot wine, highlighting the special customs of the Khitan people in making shochu, which can be described as a stroke of God. The verse "Shogi Shochu Chi" not only graphically describes the scene and process of local brewing distilled liquor, but also points out that its unique process of firing distilled liquor is ice refrigeration.
A horseback people's wine culture
Among the institutional cultures left to us by the Liao Dynasty, the most wonderful legacy is the bowl system, which has continued into the Jin, Yuan, and Qing dynasties. "捺钵" is a Khitan word that originally refers to the emperor's line of the big tent, as a system of "xingguo" rule. The Khitan were nomadic people, and the Liao Emperor had long been engaged in shooting and hunting in the wild, "four hours (four seasons) bowls". In the spring, eagles were selected to catch swans and hooks in places with water, and a grand feast of head fish (squid) and goose (swan) was held, and a general meeting of ministers was held to receive envoys from foreign countries and dependent countries. In the middle and late Liao Dynasty, the country was stable, and the location of the "Spring Bowl" was relatively fixed, and most of the "Spring Bowls" chose the Tao'er River, the Nen River and the Songhua River in the north of western Jilin near the confluence, and the "History of Liao" recorded that the Liao Emperor went to Changchun Prefecture for "Spring Bowl" for 92 years.
Feng Enxue believes that the Liao Dynasty's "Ice Shochu" is rooted in traditional Chinese winemaking culture and pot cooking utensils, and driven by the large demand for distilled liquor in the "Spring Bowl" activity, is the crystallization of the fusion and collision of multiple cultures. The Da'an area has a vast black land, and the mountains are full of sorghum, millet, millet, etc., which can provide sufficient food for winemaking. During the time of Emperor Daozong of Liao, "Changchun Prefecture Dousu Six Qian" was recorded in history because of the low grain. The Nen river and the Tao'er River provide natural and high-quality water sources, and the natural ice used for shochu is also easy to obtain, and cellars can be built for storage. In the Liao Dynasty, large-scale brewing pots with a caliber of more than 1.4 meters appeared, and the production capacity was greatly improved, and the brewing industry formed an important industry and a source of national taxation. The "History of Liao, Food and Goods" records that "where the gifts of the city wells are returned, only the liquor tax is paid to Shangjing", which shows that the liquor industry in the Da'an area at that time was the economic pillar of the Liao Dynasty and the source of national taxation.
Some experts believe that the shochu distillation technology invented in the Liao Dynasty spread to the Central Plains, the South and other regions with cultural exchanges, at least by the Yuan Dynasty, liquor has spread throughout the country, into thousands of households, becoming one of the world's six major distilled spirits and an important part of China's food culture.
Chinese good wine since ancient times, especially the "horseback people" in the north. Drinking customs have penetrated into all aspects of Khitan social life, and among the nine emperors of the Liao Dynasty, two were killed in their prime years, Sejong (34 years old) and Muzong (39 years old), both after getting drunk. The wind of heavy drinking arose in the Liao Dynasty, and it was common to entertain themselves with wine when receiving envoys, and many "Liao poems" described the warm wine culture of the Khitan people. Presumably, those southerners who are accustomed to drinking low-grade rice wine are more intimidated by the fiery high-grade shochu!