The year 2020 marks the 15th anniversary of the launch of the Zhejiang Culture Research Project, a mega multidisciplinary public interest-oriented project, which is designed for the purpose to introduce the Zhejiang culture to the outside world and also add some ingredients to the hybridity of the research on Chinese culture. 

If you a big fan of the Chinese culture and try to become cross-culturally savvy, then perhaps you need to put the Zhejiang Culture Research Project on your reading list of China studies. 

As a matter of fact, Zhejiang Province, one of the most vibrant and populous Eastern Chinese cities within the Yangtz River Delta, is one of the birthplaces of ancient Chinese civilization. Large numbers of historical relics have been unearthed in Zhejiang. This medium but vibrant province boasts varied landforms, time-honored cultural traditions and diversified lifestyles. The folk culture of the province, dating back to over 7,000 years ago, is splendid and gorgeous, vividly mirroring the spirits and lifestyles of the people in Zhejiang. 

This time, we would like to introduce a special time-honored wine which is generally scartted in Shaoxing City, Zhejiang. 

(Shaoxing Rice Wine)

What alcohol do Chinese people like best? Wine and beer are two kinds of fermented alcohol with a long history. They were not popular in China until the 20th century. China’s native alcohol is mainly spirits and rice wine. Over the past thousands of years, "Rice wine" has always been the mainstream of China’s alcohol. The most famous producing area of rice wine is Shaoxing, Zhejiang. As early as more than 2500 years ago, the ancestors in Shaoxing began to make rice wine. Shaoxing rice wine, the best representative of Chinese rice wine, has declined. Why?

(Edited by Ye Ke)