What is the meaning of Chinese character jiu in English？
2 min readWine or liquor has been intimately intertwined with almost every aspect of Chinese culture since earliest times.The Chinese word jiu in Chinese is commonly loosely translated as“wine，”but the word actually can refer to any type of alcoholic beverage，from beer pijiu to liquor of any kind including grape wine.Many Chinese“wines”are in fact liquors or spirits，and Tibetans have a brew called qingkejiu ，made from barley.
What are the legends about the origin of alcoholic brewing in ancient China？
China is one of the countries with the longest history of the production of alcoholic beverages.One legend says that at the early stage of the Xia Dynasty，woman named Yi Di presented to Yu with a tasty wine that she made by fermenting rice wrapped in mulberry leaves.
Another legend says that people started brewing alcoholic drinks during the era of Huang Di .An ancient book entitled The Yellow Emperor’s Cannon of Internal Medicine records a conversation between Huang Di and Qi Bo .Huang Di said，“Please tell me how to make a sweet alcoholic drink from rice？”Qi Bo replied，”Rice of fine-quality is required，and rice straw can be used to warm it
The most popular legend concerns Du Kang ，who is said to have been a shepherd in the Zhou Dynasty.One day when he was herding sheep，he mindlessly dropped a bamboo tube in the pasture.He soon forgot about his loss，and the tube was full of millet.14 days later when he found the tube，the millet had turned into fragrant wine.This new discovery made him happy.Since then，he never shepherded sheep on the grassland.Instead he brewed the wine.Today his name is still associated with alcohol.
