Hunan culture has a very strong political consciousness, especially the spirit of patriotism. These cultural characteristics are also reflected in Hunan’s wine culture. Nanyue Dongting, Yuelu Xiangshui, and Hunan wine are filled with intoxicating aroma. So, what is the origin of Hunan wine culture and Hunan people? How did Hunan’s wine culture form?

In historical documents, the ancients also have rich records of Hunan cuisine. For example, Qu Yuan mentioned Hengyang ancient wine "Liu Liquor" in "Songs of Chu" and called it "Chu Yuanli". In "Calling the Soul", he also made a description of the food and wine at the Hunan banquet in Chu. A detailed and vivid description. "Warring States Policy·Wei Ce" records that "in the past, the emperor's daughter ordered Yi Di to make wine and it became beautiful, which led to the advancement of Yu." According to expert research, Yi Di was a female wine making official, and she was most likely an ancestor of the tribe in the ancient Wuling area. In particular, "Youshui" and "Lishui" in the ancient Wuling cultural circle are closely related to wine culture. "Ciyuan" writes: "In ancient literature, wine and You are the same."

According to Hunan folk saying, Youshui River was also called Jiuhe River in the past. "Youshui·Yu Gong" says that Youshui comes from Yuanling today. The Youshui basin belongs to the Wuling Mountains in the border areas of Hunan, Guizhou, Chongqing and Hubei. It was the residence of the ancient You people. Youshui was called Youxi in ancient times. One of the Five Streams in Wuling. "As far away as Tang and Yu, there were three Miao lands." "Chu and Qin were in central Guizhou. After the Han Dynasty, there were successively Youyang County, Youyang Prefecture, Youyang Army, Li County, Liyang County, etc."

In ancient times, you, wine, 醴, and ritual were all used interchangeably. Chunjiu was also called 鴴jiu. In the oracle bone inscriptions, this word was just like using pottery beans to hold mellow wine to worship the gods. Later generations added the word "酴" next to "鴴". "Yang Guo Zhi·Volume 3" and "Shu Zhi" record: "At the beginning, the ancestral temple was established and the wine was called Li." In ancient times, the tribes who were good at making wine lived in Lishui. In addition, Chu State is rich in Jingmao (also known as Bacteria), and there are records of "Jingmao" in "Yu Gong" and "Hanshu Geography". This kind of thatch is also abundant in Xiangbei and Western Hunan, Hunan, which belongs to the Chu State.

This kind of thatch was among the tributes that the Emperor of Zhou asked the Chu people to hand over, which was mainly used for shrinking wine and offering sacrifices. In addition, "The Analects of Confucius", "Chu Ci", "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period·Original Flavor", "Qi Min Yao Shu", "Yi Wen Lei Ju", "Beishan Jiu Jing" and other documents have rich insights into Huxiang's drinks and food. record.

In addition, there are many folk legends about Yandi Hunan wine - wine culture - winemaking. The Chinese nation is called the "descendants of Yan and Huang". Among the two emperors, Yan and Huang were the founders and founders of China's agricultural civilization. Emperor Yan, the communicator, "started farming and taught the people how to farm; tasted all kinds of herbs and began to have medicine; turned hemp into cloth and made clothes; made Japan and China the market, and initiated trading; cultivated and made pottery and created pottery." Emperor Yan created the world. The earliest civilization in ancient China made an indelible contribution to the development of social productivity and the prosperity of the Chinese nation, and was hailed by future generations as the founder of farming culture.

Emperor Yan left rich footprints on the land of Hunan. Hunan is the place where Shennong Yan Emperor and Huang Emperor lived and the place where Emperor Yan rested (there is the Mausoleum of Emperor Yan in Zhuzhou). Emperor Yan was the ancestor of farming civilization and the founder of wine culture. In Emperor Yan's time, he already had the raw materials and equipment for wine storage, and he also summarized the wine-making technology from apes and monkeys. Of course, Emperor Yan was an emperor and could not do it himself. He can only teach and guide others to make wine. From this point of view, the person who makes wine must be the ancestor of Hunan.

Especially in the 1970s, not only the remains of wine and a large amount of residual food were unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha, but also a large number of eating slips, chopsticks, drinking utensils, and food utensils. , its essence of quality and its wide range of applications are enough to open a Han Dynasty food museum.

Records of wine in the cultural relics unearthed from tombs of the Western Han Dynasty include white wine, rice wine, warm (fermented) wine and rib wine, especially in the unearthed silk books "Health Prescriptions" and "Miscellaneous Treatments". In these two medical works, there are also the earliest records of brewing technology found in our country so far; one of the reasons why the female corpse in Mawangdui Han Tomb has not decayed for thousands of years is that it has gone through the "Qiqiao pouring wine"; in the city head of Li County In the Shancheng City Cultural Group, archeology also discovered a "funnel-shaped filter" used to filter wine. This is a historical testimony that the wine-making process appeared in Hunan 7,000 to 9,000 years ago.

Hunan has also unearthed the largest number of bronze wine vessels in southern China, with the best texture and shape, which can be called a national treasure. The above-mentioned words and objects fully prove that ancient Hunan had a wine culture since the beginning of Chinese civilization.