Rice Wine Culture of Pingnan

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2014-01-15

Rice Wine is one of the “Three Treasures” of Pingnan and, just 20 years ago, rice wine in the county was either made at home by individuals or produced in small workshops, and remained relatively unknown to outsiders.

This photo shows visitors at the Huizelong Min Rice Wine Expo Park, the first red wine and rice wine expo park in China, located in Pingnan county, Fujian province.

However, by 2013, the industrialized production of Huizelong Wine Co Ltd realized an annual output value of more than 200 miliion yuan ( $33 million), and Huizelong Min Rice Wine is now sold around the whole of Fujian province, in addition to provinces such as Sichuan, Shandong and Hunan, and cities such as Shanghai.

Local Fujian people and visitors from around China taste rice wine at the Huizelong Wine Co Ltd special local products center,which is located in Pingnan county, Fujian province.

Pingnan is situated one thousand meters above sea level and, from the Qin Dynasty to the Republic of China, Pingnan produced superior quality red rice and sold it to neighboring counties and the provincial capital Fuzhou, as well as to more distant cities such as Shanghai, Ningbo and Tianjin.

Pingnan thus has much experience in the production of red rice and rice wine and, in 1949, a total of 87 distillers yeast workshops were located in the county, producing 75 tons of red rice, and there were also 89 wine workshops, producing 128 tons of rice wine. In 1953, there were 80 distillers yeast workshops, producing 33.7 tons annually – and almost all households produced rice wine.

In 2006, Huizelong Wine Co Ltd cooperated with Fujian Normal University on research and trials involving organic wine and, in March 2008, Huizelong organic wine received national certification and became the first organic rice wine producer in China.

In 2007, the red rice production and rice wine techniques of Pingnan were included in the second list of provincial level intangible cultural heritages. Huizelong Wine Co Ltd invested over 500 million yuan to establish the Huizelong Min Rice Wine Expo Park, the first red wine and rice wine expo park in China.

This photo shows visitors at the Baishuiyang Scenic Spot in Pingnan county, Fujian province.