Posted 2018/11/26
Chinese wine has a long history. In 640 A.D., the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty placed grapes collected from the State of Gaochang in the courtyard. After acquiring techniques for wine brewing, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty revised the technical material and used it to brew fragrant and intense wine. This is the first explicit record on wine brewing by people in the hinterland with methods transmitted from the Western Regions. In the 13th century, Marco Polo came to China. He depicted in his Travel Notes that “There are lots of high-quality vineyards in Taiyuan Governmental State… huge amount of wine are manufactured there… such wine is transported from this place to other places across the province.” The following famous sentence can be found in a poem written in the Tang Dynasty: “Cups of jade that glow with wine of grapes at night”.
Ever known as “Jiuquan Shire” (Jiuquan means “Alcohol Spring”) in Chinese history, Suzhou Region in Gansu Province is a crucial famous historical and cultural city along the Silk Road. Jiuquan Luminous Cup is a renowned and costly alcohol-drinking vessel made of jade. A cup containing alcohol will sparkle when it is placed under the moonlight, hence the name. The manufacture of Jiuquan Luminous Cup has a long history. Luminous cups made in modern time with Laoshan jade and Xinshan jade in Qilian Mountain as well as river jade are featured by brilliant colors, elegant shapes, exquisiteness and transparence.
Legend has it that the spring water under the ancient Jiuquan City is endowed with intense fragrance of alcohol. One day, such fragrance was smelled by two gods (God of South Star and God of North Star) who were on an inspection tour. God of North Star squatted beside the spring, acclaiming, “What an alcohol spring!” God of South Star picked up a stone and turned it into two cups. When darkness fell down, there was no moonlight, but the cups were sparkling. It is from then on that this place is named “Jiuquan” (means “Alcohol Spring”) while the cups left by two gods are known as “Luminous Cups”.
