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绍兴黄酒 Shaoxing Wine
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In today's "Tasting Fine Liquors" segment, we're taking you into the ancient Chinese city famous for huangjiu - Shaoxing. The ancient city of Shaoxing is also well known as "The Venice of the East". Wandering around the alleyways paved with green slate, you'll marvel at how there seems to be a bridge or a river at every turn. Shaoxing has a lot of water resources, which serve as the solid foundation for its huangjiu brewing industry.
"Drawing water from the neighbouring Jian Lake, the reputation of the Shaoxing wine distilled here has spread far and wide." Huangjiu can be said to be the calling card of the city of Shaoxing. As the world's third largest brewer of traditional Chinese liquors, the sweet thirst-quenching Shaoxing wine has served as inspiration for many literati and shaped the local cultural scene. For thousands of years Shaoxing has served as a breeding ground for literati and talent has emerged in great numbers.
During the Wei, Jin and North-South dynasties era, the seven sages of the bamboo grove, who were representative literary figures of that time, often congregated at Lanting, or Orchid Pavilion, in Shaoxing. They would set their cups of wine in the upper reaches of a channel of water as a game, and whoever it floated down beside would have to drink the wine or compose a poem. In the year 353, the ninth year of Emperor Mu of Jin's Yonghe era, Wang Xizhi wrote the 'Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion' while in the throes of drunkenness, creating an unparalleled piece of Chinese calligraphy. During the Ming and Qing dynasties Shaoxing became even richer in culture. In around one hundred years, renowned scholars and philosophers such as Wang Yangming, Wang Ji, Ji Ben, and Xu Wei came on to the scene one after another.
In the Repulican Era, most of the literati of Shaoxing were fond of the local huangjiu, and took deep pride in it. People like Zhu Ziqing, Xia Mianzun, Liu Dongyu and Zhu Guangqian used to gather around the Baima Lake regularly for drinking sessions. And Cai Yuanpei couldn't have a meal without a drink. Lu Xun meanwhile took sipping on the sweet Huadiao variety of Shaoxing huangjiu, also referred to as Nuerhong, as a lifetime habit. Xiao Hong once wrote, "Lu Xun likes to drink a little wine, but not too much, he takes half of a small bowl or a bowl." No wonder his works are often so redolent with the heady scent of Shaoxing wine.
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