About the origin of liquor in China, some people think it began with Yi Di in Dayu period in the beginning of Xia Dynasty, with a history of 4000 years. However, some other people believe it originated from Du Kang in Zhou Dynasty with the history of almost 300 years. According to the introduction in Book of Wine written by Zhu Yizhong, people made wine with the way of fermenting the rice covered by mulberry leaf in ancient times, which referred to the way used by Yi Di and made wine for Dayu in the beginning of Xia Dynasty.
As a matter of fact, Yi Di was a government official. The purpose he made wine for Dayu because he wanted to reward from him. After drinking the wine, Dayu felt it was sweet to drink and said it is possible for the later generation to ruin a nation because of drinking wine. Therefore, he gave the order to forbid making wine. His intention didn’t win any award.
Another famous person in making wine is Du Kang. Some students may have heard something about him if they like drinking wine when they come to China to learn to speak Chinese. It was said that Du Kang was a sheepherder born in Zhou Dynasty. One day, he took a bamboo strip with millet congee to shepherd but forgot to bring back after he placed it under a tree. After half a month, he found the thing he left and the millet congee has been fermented into wine.
After the people in the village drunk the wine, they all thought it was delicious. As a result, he no longer went to shepherd and dedicated himself to brewing wine, establishing a wine shop gradually. It is hard to know whether this legend was real or not. But the fact is that wine has been very popular in Zhou Dynasty. The government at that time also set special department to manage the wine brewing. The Rites of Zhou also recorded the issues need attention in brewing wine, indicating that the technology for wine brewing at that time was completed.
Some Chinese language teachers in Chinese learning programs may also tell you that the wine brewing workshop remains discovered has proved that China has had developed wine brewing industry as early as in Shang Dynasty 3000 years ago. China is also the first country apply starter propagation to wine brewing.