China is one of the countries with the longest history of the production of alcoholic beverages. One legend says that at the early stage of the Xiz Dynasty, a woman named Yi Di presented to Yu with a tasty wine that she made by fermenting rice wrapped in mulberry leaves.

Another legend says that people started brewing alcoholic drinks during the era of Huang Di. An ancient book entitled The Yellow Emperor’s Cannon of Internal Medicine records a conversation between Huang Di and Qi Bo. Huang Di said, “Please tell me how to make a sweet alcoholic drink from rice?” Qi Bo replied, “Rice of fine-quality rice is required, and rice straw can be used to warm it.”

The most popular legend concerns Du Kang, who is said to have been a shepherd during the Zhou Dynasty. One day when he was herding sheep, he mindlessly dropped a bamboo tube in the pasture. He soon forgot about his loss; and the tube was full of millet. 14 days later when he found the tube, the millet had turned into fragrant wine. This new discovery made him happy. He began brewing the wine. Since then, he never shepherded sheep on the grassland. Today his name is still associated with alcohol.

This article by Yang Tianqing and Daniel Kister.