Andrographis and yellow wine are not the same, andrographis refers to wine with the addition of the mineral andrographis, while yellow wine is a very old type of wine in China, which is called yellow wine because of its yellow color.

Andrographis is a mineral, an arsenic-containing sulfide, which ranges in color from bright yellow to reddish, but is predominantly yellow, hence the name xionghuang. Xionghuang wine, is a white or yellow wine concocted from ground up powdered Xionghuang. According to Chinese medicine, Xionghuang is warm, slightly pungent and poisonous, and can be applied externally as well as taken internally. It is mainly used to detoxify and kill insects, and is effective when used externally to treat malignant sores, snake and insect bites, and so on. Andrographis can be drunk in small quantities to cure epilepsy and sores, but because of the corrosive power of andrographis, it must be instructed by a doctor and follow the ancient method of concocting andrographis wine to drink.

Huangjiu is a kind of rice wine, unlike white wine, which is not distilled and has an alcohol content of less than 20 percent, and the color of different kinds of huangjiu also shows different beige, yellowish brown or reddish brown. Shandong Jimo Old Wine is a typical representative of northern corn wine; Fujian Longyan Sinker Wine and Fujian Old Wine are typical representatives of red rice wine. Yellow wine contains a large amount of protein, B vitamins, calcium, phosphorus and selenium, as well as a certain amount of sugar, organic acids and amino acids. In traditional Chinese medicine, yellow wine can be used for medicinal purposes. Drinking it raw has curative effects on rapid heartbeat, anorexia, irritability, etc.; drinking it hot relieves blood stagnation, lack of milk, rheumatoid arthritis, lumbago and numbness of hands and feet.