When talking about Huangjiu（黄酒）, what is the first thing that pops up your mind? Huangjiu, known as "yellow rice wine," is a type of Chinese liquor made from cereal grains（谷物，gǔ wù） such as rice（稻子，dào zi）, wheat（小麦，xiǎo mài） or millet（小米，xiǎo mǐ）. With a brewing history for more than 2,500 years, Huangjiu is considered as the world's three major ancient alcoholic drinks, together with beer and wine.
Unlike Baijiu（白酒）, Huangjiu is not distilled; the alcohol content（酒精含量，jiǔ jīng hán liàng） by volume is no more than 20 percent, which is suitable for daily drinking.
Huangjiu is produced in many regions across China, offering a wide range of options for consumers. Shaoxing City（绍兴） in east China's Zhejiang province, where Huangjiu is mainly produced, is the most famous Chinese region to make yellow rice wine. Meanwhile, the traditional Huangjiu also keeps spirits high there.
The yellow rice wine is a pillar industry（支柱产业，zhī zhù chǎn yè） in Shaoxing City, where 74 rice wine companies and more than 11,000 workers produce more than 600,000 tons（吨） of rice wine every year. The most authentic way to keep the best aroma（香气，xiāng qì） of Huangjiu is to be aged（变陈，biàn chén） in earthenware jars（陶罐，táo guàn） for decades. The longer it is aged, the better flavor it would be.
With Huangjiu brewers now seeking new markets, Huangjiu now is often mixed with soda or juices, and chilled with ice cubes（冰块，bīng kuài） as a kind of refreshing low-alcohol cocktail（鸡尾酒）. Interesting, to warm（温，wēn） the yellow wine, the traditional method is to pour Huangjiu into a bottle and put it in hot water（热水，rè shuǐ） instead of heating（加热，jiā rè） it directly.
The brewing technique of Shaoxing yellow rice wine has been listed as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage（国家级非物质文化遗产） in 2006, which means Shaoxing Huangjiu is not only a traditional alcoholic drink in China but also a significant part of the national culture.
The spread of Chinese Huangjiu culture
Noted as one of the official state gifts between China and foreign countries, the Shaoxing Yellow Rice Wine（绍兴黄酒） has often been shown up at the dinner feast（晚宴，wǎn yàn） and witnessed the great friendships（友谊，yǒu yì） between the two countries.
Today in addition to being a kind of alcoholic drinks in the market, Huangjiu now is also used in cooking to replace the function of Liaojiu（料酒）, an essential condiment in Chinese cooking.
Yellow Wine Museum of China
When speaking of Chinese Huangjiu, how could you miss the Yellow Wine Museum of China（中国黄酒博物馆）? Situated in the Yuecheng District of Shaoxing City, the Yellow Wine Museum of China is a museum featuring Chinese Huangjiu culture and the production of Huangjiu. There are three main halls（展厅，zhǎn tīng） in the museum and the highlight of it is a wine cellar（酒窖，jiǔ jiào）, which covers an area of 400 square meters and stores（存放，cún fàng） many kinds of aged wines（陈酿，chén niàng）.
To better serve visitors who want to learn more about the great culture of Huangjiu, a series of special activities including the identification of Huangjiu and the Huangjiu show performance have been held by the museum.
Today, China's Huangjiu has been regarded as the "golden name card（金名片，jīn míng piàn）" for Shaoxing City. For those who are planning to visit Shaoxing City, the Yellow Wine Museum of China is a must-try.
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