Shanxi Intangible Cultural Heritages: A glimpse of brewing process of mature vinegar

Reporters and editors visit East Lake Vinegar Park whose mature vinegar was included on the list of national-level intangible cultural heritages in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province. (Photo by Zhang Zhou/ Guangming Picture)

By Zhang Zhou

TAIYUAN, Sept. 18 (Guangming Online)——More than 80 reporters and editors from central news websites, local news websites and commercial websites and some new media and traditional media agencies in cultural fields visited the East Lake Vinegar Park so as to touch the pulse of cultural Shanxi and celebrate the upcoming 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) here on Monday.

The brewing technology of "Shanxi Mature Vinegar", was developed in the Western Zhou Dynasty (about 11th century-771 B.C.). In the early Ming Dynasty (around 1368A.D.), Meiheju invented a fumigation method that produced a vinegar that was red in color and mellow and sour in taste. After more than 600 years' development, the brewing technology of Shanxi Mature Vinegar was upgraded by new scientific technologies and was included on the list of national-level intangible cultural heritages.

【喜迎十九大•文脉颂中华】(山西非遗项目：探访老陈醋酿制工艺)

“喜迎十九大，文脉颂中华”非物质文化遗产大型网络传播活动山西行于18日走进太原东湖醋园，来自中央新闻网站、地方新闻网站和商业网站，以及部分文化领域新媒体和传统媒体的近80名编辑记者近距离感受国家级非物质文化项目山西老陈醋的酿制工艺。

“山西老陈醋”作为中国四大名醋之首，其工艺源于自西周以来的制醋工艺。史料记载，明初（1368年）太原醋坊“美和居”酿醋师傅创造出了“夏伏晒，冬捞冰”的陈酿工艺，使山西老陈醋酿造工艺发展到一个新的水平。又经600多年的传承和发展，形成了一套与现代科学相匹配，以手工技艺为经验的山西老陈醋生产工艺，从而被认定为国家非物质文化遗产。