The company that produces Dongjiu, formerly known as Cheng's small workshop, is located in Donggongsi, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province. It is located at the northern end of the main body of the Guizhou Plateau, with low mountains and hills and wide valley basins as the main features. Affected by the climate of the Dalou Mountains, the Donggongsi area has no severe cold in winter and no scorching heat in summer. The fields are fertile, trees are shady, springs are flowing, and the environment is quiet, which is very suitable for the growth and reproduction of microbial communities. It is a place with a long history of winemaking. Dongjiu got its name because it was founded here. The brewing history of Dongjiu can be traced back to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties (220-589 AD), and distilled liquor can be traced back to the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty (1821-1850 AD). Xiaoqu wine workshops flourished in the late Qing Dynasty. There were more than 10 small workshops in the area of about ten kilometers from Donggongsi to Gaoping alone, and the Xiaoqu wine brewed by the Cheng's workshop, a winemaking family, was the most outstanding. Cheng Mingkun (Zi Hanzhang, 1903-1963), a descendant of the Cheng family, combined the winemaking skills of his predecessors and combined them with local soil, climate, raw materials and other conditions to brew the unique "Donggongsi Jiujiu". Cheng Mingkun collected folk recipes for making koji and winemaking, studied them, and improved them, and finally formed the "Herb List" (later named "Centipede List") for making Xiaoqu and the "Fragrance List" for making Daqu. Among the "Herb List" for making Xiaoqu and the "Fragrance List" for making Daqu, a considerable part is precious Chinese herbal medicine, forming more than 100 trace components such as esters, alcohols, and phenols, which not only enriched the connotation of Dongjiu, but also gave the wine a comprehensive health function. After several improvements, the Cheng family formed a complete set of brewing skills, which was kept secret and operated exclusively. The first and last two characters of "Donggongsi Jiujiu" were retained and named "Dongjiu". And the bulk sales were changed to bottled sales. With the continuous improvement of brewing techniques and the improvement of wine quality, Dongjiu has become a famous wine in Zunyi, well-known far and wide. Cheng Mingkun is the main founder of Dongjiu. The Cheng family is from Jiangxi and has been in Guizhou for fifteen generations, making wine as their business. At the age of 23, Cheng Mingkun began to concentrate on developing the production techniques of cellar wine. After several improvements, the Cheng family formed a complete set of brewing techniques, with hundreds of herbs added to the koji, which was kept secret and operated exclusively. The first and last characters of "Donggongsi Cellar Wine" were retained and named "Dongjiu". In 1957, the Zunyi Municipal People's Government decided to restore this traditional famous product, and Cheng Mingkun resumed his old business. Cheng Mingkun died of illness in 1963, and Chen Xichu succeeded him as the winemaker. The current main inheritor is Jia Qiaoyan (currently the chief engineer and deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Guizhou Dongjiu Co., Ltd.), who has kept Dongjiu the honorary title of China's famous wine (National Gold Award). "Dongjiu" was discontinued in the early days of liberation. In 1957, under the notice of the State Council requiring the excavation of the spirit of national heritage, the local government decided to restore this traditional famous product. Zunyi Alcohol Factory was responsible for the trial production task and sent personnel to repair stoves and build cellars on the basis of the original Cheng's small workshop to resume production. The Municipal Finance Bureau invested 2,000 yuan for the first time to purchase raw materials and pay labor costs. Cheng Mingkun was still used in technology. The trial production was successful that year. The wine samples were sent to the superiors for appraisal and the quality was affirmed. The Premier's Office of the State Council issued an instruction, determining that the wine "has good color, aroma and taste, and suggested that the local government restore and develop it." Dongjiu has been reborn since then. Dongjiu has a colorless, transparent or slightly yellow liquid. The brewing process has to go through multiple processes such as "material selection, grain soaking, grain steaming, saccharification, small cellar fermentation, distillation, and large cellar fermentation", all of which are completed by hand. Material selection: Use local high-quality sorghum as raw material, and use the pollution-free underground spring water of Shuikou Temple near the factory as brewing water. Soaking grain: Take 800kg of sorghum and put it into 95% hot water. Use a shovel to mix the sorghum and water. The water level should be about 25cm above the grain surface. The water temperature for soaking grain varies according to the season. Generally, it is about 90% in summer and about 95% in winter. The time is 8 hours, and the water is drained. When soaking grain, it is required to absorb water thoroughly and evenly. Steaming grain: Put the soaked sorghum into the wooden steamer and steam it. After the grain is steamed, dry steam it for 40-50 minutes. Then use 40-50% water to steam the grain. The steaming time is 5-10 minutes for glutinous sorghum and 60-70 minutes for japonica sorghum. At this time, the water temperature of the grain surface is about 95 and the water is 5cm above the grain surface. After the sorghum has basically absorbed enough water, drain the water and increase the steam to steam again. The steaming time is about 1 hour for glutinous sorghum and about 1.5 hours for japonica sorghum. At this time, open the steamer cover and flush with water for 20 minutes. When steaming grain, the grain should be cooked, with appropriate hardness and cracks in the grain. Saccharification: The first step is to spread out and cool: scoop out the cooked grains and pour them evenly into the box, flatten them; then use a blower to cool them down to the required range and add the koji. The second step is to mix the koji: add rice koji at 0.40.6% of the amount of sorghum, less in summer and more in winter; the rice koji is added twice, and the amount of the first and second koji is about half of the total amount; the temperature of the first koji is about 26 in summer and about 42 in winter. The higher temperature is collected at the edge of the box first, and the lower temperature is collected in the middle. Leave a groove about 18cm wide around the box, flatten it, and cover it with a thin layer of red yeast evenly after collecting the box. The thickness depends on the temperature. After 12-20 hours, start to check the temperature. Pay attention to heat preservation in winter and cooling in summer. The third step is to cultivate: the saccharification time is shorter in summer and longer in winter, generally between 24-28 hours; the saccharification mash is required to be fragrant, sweet, and free of acid, odor, and alcohol for the best effect. Small cellar fermentation: Step 1: Mix the saccharified mash with the red dregs, with the ratio of mash to dregs being 1:2.53.0, more in summer and less in winter. Step 2: Evenly put the mixture into the cellar, with the temperature at room temperature in summer and about 32°C in winter. Step 3: Seal the cellar: Put the mixture into the cellar, seal it with plastic film, and put 34cm of husk on it for insulation (no or less in summer). Step 4: Fermentation: The temperature during the fermentation period should not exceed 40°C, and the maximum temperature should not exceed 42°C; the fermentation period of a small cellar is generally 67 days, and 5 days in summer is acceptable under special circumstances. Distillation: Step 1: Add water and wine tails to the bottom pot, and boil the water in the bottom pot about 20cm away from the steamer. Step 2: Add an appropriate amount of husk to the mash, mix well, and steam it on the steamer. The steaming should be light, uniform, and pressurized to avoid stepping on steam or escaping steam. Step 3: After covering the fermented grains, add appropriate amount of husk and well-mixed fragrant fermented grains. It is also required to be light, even, and press the steam to steam, so as not to step on the steam or escape the steam. Step 4: When receiving the wine, pay attention to the flow rate, wine temperature, alcohol content, and wine quality classification; the entire wine receiving time should be controlled within about 3 hours, not too fast; the alcohol content of the wine received is 60-61.5 degrees, and the alcohol content of the flavored wine is 62-63 degrees. Fermentation in large cellars: The first step is cleaning: first clean the large cellar and make it sanitary. Step 2: Ingredients: The ratio of the three dregs is 60% red dregs: 30% Dong dregs: 10% fragrant fermented grains. Step 3: Mixing: Flatten the red dregs, cool them down, evenly spread wheat koji, then spread Dong dregs, and finally spread fragrant fermented grains, and mix them thoroughly. Step 4: Enter the cellar: Put the well-mixed dregs into the cellar, flatten and tighten them on the same day in summer, and flatten and tighten them when the temperature rises to 35-38 in winter; each time you tighten them, you can make a small amount of wine, and the total amount of small wine in each cellar is 350kg and about 60 degrees. The fifth step is to seal the cellar: mix fine coal and appropriate amount of yellow soil, step on the velvet, seal the cellar mouth, collect sweat and tighten it, and maintain it frequently during the process to prevent cracking. The sixth step is fermentation: the fermentation period of the large cellar is longer than that of the small cellar, generally taking more than 10 months. The production process of Dongjiu's koji making is unique. The same as rice koji and wheat koji, both have to go through more than 10 processes such as "crushing, batching, mixing, molding, entering the room, removing sweat, turning over, reverse burning, drying, inspection, and storage" to complete. The production process of Dongjiu brewing and koji making is scientific and rigorous, and the process is unique. Its main characteristics are reflected in: 1. The process of "two small and two large, double mash steaming": that is, small koji and small cellar are used to make mash, and large koji and large cellar are used to make fragrant mash, and the mash and fragrant mash are steamed in series, and more than 130 kinds of precious Chinese herbal medicines are added during the koji making process. 2. It has the characteristics of "three highs and one low": the three highs are high content of ethyl butyrate, higher alcohols and total acid; one low refers to low content of ethyl lactate. The unique and exquisite brewing process makes Dongjiu have the rich aroma of Daqu liquor and the softness, mellowness and sweetness of Xiaoqu liquor. The wine body is full and coordinated, and the ester aroma, mellow aroma, medicinal aroma and refreshing acidity are several important aspects of Dongjiu's flavor. Dongjiu brewing technology is unique in my country's liquor industry and in the world's distilled liquor industry. Its base wine has been adopted by more and more Luzhou-flavor wineries since the late 1980s. Properly blending a little Dongjiu base wine into Luzhou-flavor wine can add aroma to the wine, improve the taste of the wine, and improve the taste and grade of the wine. Dongjiu has once again made a new and indelible contribution to the development of my country's liquor industry. Dongjiu brewing technology has made a new and indelible contribution to the development of my country's liquor industry. Dongjiu has been rated as a famous Guizhou wine twice; it has been rated as a famous Chinese wine for four consecutive times and won the National Famous Wine Gold Award; it has twice won the National Light Industry Ministry Export Product Gold Award and the China Food Expo Gold Award; it has been listed as a national secret formula three times, and it is strictly forbidden to disclose it to the outside world. The confidentiality period is long-term. On May 24, 2021, it was approved by the State Council to be included in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative expansion project list.