Alcoholic drinks in China Alcoholic drinks in China Alcoholic drinks in China seem to precede the earliest stages of Chinese civilization. They include rice and grape wine, beer, and various liquors including "baijiu", the most-consumed distilled spirit in the world. ("jiǔ") is the Chinese character referring to any drink containing appreciable quantities of ethanol. Its Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as "*tsuʔ", at which point it was generally applied to drinks made from fermented millet. By the time of the first certain use of distillation during the Jin and Southern Song dynasties, the Middle Chinese pronunciation was "tsjuw". It is often translated into
Korean alcoholic drinks A regional, slightly-creamier variant, originally from Gyeonggi-do, is called "dongdongju". Another variety, called "ihwaju" (hangul: ; hanja: ; "pear-blossom wine") is so named because it is brewed from rice with rice malt which ferments during the pear-blossom season. "Ihwaju" is often so thick that it is eaten with a spoon. A similar drink is known as "Gamju"; this name is also used for non-alcoholic sweet drinks, including "Sikhye" (). "Cheongju", or "yakju", is a refined rice wine made from steamed rice which has undergone several fermentation stages. Also known as "myeongyakju" or "beopju", it is distinguished from "takju" by its