All Topics  
Kaoliang

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Kaoliang
 
 
  Topics Kaoliang Topic Home

Kaoliang jiu (literally "sorghum liquor"; often called simply kaoliang or sorghum wine) is a strong distilled liquor, made from fermented sorghum
Sorghum

Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of Poaceae, some of which are raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture....
 (which is called gaoliáng in Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
). It is made and sold in both mainland China
Mainland China

Mainland China, Continental China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China , excluding Hong Kong and Macau, which run on One Country, Two Systems....
 and Taiwan
Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
, and also popular in Korea, where it is called goryangju (hangul: ???; hanja: ???). Kaoliang is an important product of the islands Kinmen
Kinmen

Kinmen , located at , is a small archipelago of several islands administered by the Republic of China government: Greater Kinmen , Lesser Kinmen , and some islets....
 and Matsu
Matsu Islands

The Matsu Islands are a minor archipelago of 19 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait administered as Lienchiang County , Fujian Province, Republic of China of the Republic of China ....
 which are under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China
Republic of China

The Republic of China , also known as Nationalist China is a country in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition into a multi-party democratic state with Political status of Taiwan....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Kaoliang'
Start a new discussion about 'Kaoliang'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Kaoliang jiu (literally "sorghum liquor"; often called simply kaoliang or sorghum wine) is a strong distilled liquor, made from fermented sorghum
Sorghum

Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of Poaceae, some of which are raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture....
 (which is called gaoliáng in Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
). It is made and sold in both mainland China
Mainland China

Mainland China, Continental China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China , excluding Hong Kong and Macau, which run on One Country, Two Systems....
 and Taiwan
Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
, and also popular in Korea, where it is called goryangju (hangul: ???; hanja: ???). Kaoliang is an important product of the islands Kinmen
Kinmen

Kinmen , located at , is a small archipelago of several islands administered by the Republic of China government: Greater Kinmen , Lesser Kinmen , and some islets....
 and Matsu
Matsu Islands

The Matsu Islands are a minor archipelago of 19 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait administered as Lienchiang County , Fujian Province, Republic of China of the Republic of China ....
 which are under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China
Republic of China

The Republic of China , also known as Nationalist China is a country in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition into a multi-party democratic state with Political status of Taiwan....
. Kaoliang ranges between 38 and 63 percent alcohol by volume.

Famous Taiwanese kaoliang brands

????? (Hanyu Pinyin: jinmén gaoliáng jiu) is one of the most popular brands of kaoliang in Taiwan. The name simply means 'Kinmen kaoliang'. As the name indicates, it is produced on the island of Kinmen. The mainstays of the range are the standard 58 percent and 38 percent alcohol bottlings.

????? (Hanyu Pinyin: yùshan gaoliáng jiu) is produced by the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation. It is named after the highest mountain in Taiwan, Yushan/Jade Mountain. One of the most notable products in the range is an 'X.O.' kaoliang aged for five years in tanks before bottling.

??????? (Hanyu Pinyin: ba ba kengdào gaoliáng jiu) is produced by the Matsu Distillery on the island of Nankan, part of the Matsu archipelego. The name is derived from the name of an abandoned military tunnel which the distillery took over as storage space for their kaoliang and aged rice wine. It means 'Tunnel 88 kaoliang'. All of the distillery's aged kaoliangs are stored in the tunnel for at least five years.

Kaoliang in popular culture

  • The 1987 Zhang Yimou
    Zhang Yimou

    Zhang Yimou is an internationally acclaimed China filmmaker and former cinematographer, and one of the best known of the Fifth Generation of Chinese film directors....
     film Red Sorghum
    Red Sorghum

    Red Sorghum is a 1987 Cinema of China about a young woman's life working on a distillery for Kaoliang. It is based on a novel by Mo Yan.The film marked the directorial debut of internationally acclaimed filmmaker Zhang Yimou, and the acting debut of film star Gong Li....
     (???; Pinyin: Hóng Gaoliáng) is set in a rural kaoliang distillery in the Shandong
    Shandong

    For the people of Shandong, see Shandong people is a coastal political divisions of China of eastern People's Republic of China. Its abbreviation is 'Lu', after the state of Lu that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
     province of China.
  • The fictional character
    Fictional character

    A character is any person, persona, identity, or entity that exists in a The arts. The process of conveying information about characters in fiction is called characterisation....
     Li Kao
    Li Kao

    Li Kao is a fictional character in Barry Hughart's novels Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone , and Eight Skilled Gentlemen. He is a brilliant scholar, con artist, and detective who lives in China during the seventh century C.E....
    , from Barry Hughart
    Barry Hughart

    Barry Hughart in Peoria, Illinois, Illinois, is an United States author of fantasy novels....
    's award-winning novels Bridge of Birds
    Bridge of Birds

    Bridge of Birds is a fantasy novel by Barry Hughart, first published in 1984. It is set in a fantastical version of ancient China . It draws on the traditional tale of Qi Xi#The Story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl and other myths, poems and incidents from Chinese history....
    , The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen
    Eight Skilled Gentlemen

    Eight Skilled Gentlemen is a novel by Barry Hughart, first published in 1990.It is part of a series set in a version of ancient China that began with Bridge of Birds and The Story of the Stone ....
    , is named after kaoliang; his mother died in childbirth
    Childbirth

    Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the delivery of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus. The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and delivery of the infant, and delivery of the placenta.....
     while requesting a last drink, and the abbot attending the birth mistook the syllables "Kao...li...kao..." as her intended name for the child. In Bridge of Birds, while telling the story of his birth, Li Kao describes kaoliang as "the finest paint thinner
    Paint thinner

    A paint thinner is a solvent used to thin Oil paints. Commercially, "paint thinner" is usually a name for mineral spirits. Other solvents used to thin paint include:...
     and worst wine
    Wine

    Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
     ever invented."
  • Kaoliang is an important catalyst of the action in the story "New Year's Eve" in Taiwanese writer Bai Xianyong's short story collection Taipei People
    Taipei People

    Taipei People is a collection of 14 short stories written by Pai Hsien-yung in the 1960s, published in 1971. The length and art of each story is different, but all these short stories are about people who came from Mainland China to Taiwan in the 1950s, and about their life in Taipei....
    .


See also

  • Baijiu
    Baijiu

    Baijiu , or shaojiu is a China distilled beverage alcoholic beverage. The name baijiu literally means "white liquor," "white alcohol" or "white spirits"....
  • Chinese wine
    Chinese wine

    Jiu is the Chinese language word that refers to all alcoholic beverages. This word has often been mistranslated into English language as "wine", although the meaning is closer to "alcoholic beverage" or "liquor." The same Chinese character is also used in Japanese language, where it is pronounced sake or shu, and in Korean langua...
  • Korean wine
    Korean wine

    Korean culture has a great variety of traditional alcoholic beverages, most of which are called by the Sino-Korean vocabulary ju ....
  • Maotai
    Maotai

    Maotai, or Moutai , is arguably the most famous Chinese wine, or baijiu.It is produced in a town called Maotai, in the city of Renhuai , under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Zunyi, in the Guizhou province of southwestern China....