History edit

Ancient edit

"The Song of the Grape" (葡萄歌), by Liu Yuxi (772–842)

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自言我晉人    We men of Tsin [Jin 晉 = Shanxi], such grapes so fair,
種此如種玉    Do cultivate as gems most rare;
釀之成美酒    Of these delicious wine we make,
令人飲不足    For which men ne'er their thirst can slake.
爲君持一鬥    Take but a measure of this wine,
往取涼州牧    And Liang-chow's rule is surely thine.[1]

For centuries after the Han, grape wine remained little known. The third-century Bowuzhi 博物志 mentions. It was imported. In the fourth century, Tao Hongjing's work on materia medica stated that grapes were successfully grown in several places in Gansu (including in Dunhuang).[2]

Only in the Tang dynasty (618–907) did grape wine become more appreciated. After the Tang conquest of Gaochang – an oasis state on the Silk Road – in 641, the Gaochang ruler submitted. The Newly Compiled Materia Medica (Xinxiu Bencao 新修本草; 652).

In the nineteenth century, Father Évariste Huc, a French missionary

Modern edit

Geography and climate edit

Production edit

Grape varieties edit

Viticulture edit

Wine-producing regions edit

Consumption edit

References edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Sampson 1869, p. 52, cited in Shafer 1963, p. 145.
  2. ^ Huang 2000, p. 240, citing Tao Hongjing's Mingyi Bielu, a supplement to the Shennong Bencao Jing.

Works cited edit

  • Godley, Michael R. (1986), "Bacchus in the East: The Chinese Grape Wine Industry, 1892–1938", Business History Review, 60 (3): 383–409.
  • Höllman, Thomas O. (2014) [2010], The Land of the Five Flavors: A Cultural History of Chinese Cuisine, translated from German by Karen Margolis, New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-16186-2. Original German: Schlafender Lotos, trunkenes Huhn.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  • Huang, H. T. (2000), Science & Civilisation in China, Volume VI: Biology and Biological Technology, Part 5: Fermentations and Food Science, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Sampson, Theos. (1869), "The Song of the Grape", Notes and Queries on China and Japan, 3: 52.
  • Shafer, Edward H. (1963), The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-05462-8.