Ambrosia and white liquid fire

First, let's get the nomenclature clear. Wine as we know it is defined as putao jiu in Chinese, or "liquor distilled from grapes". The single character "jiu" covers not just wine but a host of spirits produced from fruit, grain, tuber or root.

There are two broad categories of liquor most often drunk in China. Again, like the foods and the people, they are marked by geographical boundaries.

South of the Yangtze River, yellow liquor or huangjiu is more common. A softer, sweeter fermented wine that is often drunk warm, it is this golden liquor that comes closest to the Western definition of "wine".