That's right. Online shopping has become a norm. There are so many professional platforms. For more general things, you can buy all kinds of goods on internet platforms, like Taobao and Tmall; For more niche things, there are web platforms selling specialized goods, such as the 517 huangjiu website. When I give my friends authentic vintage Shaoxing huangjiu, nuerhong and huadiao, they're all bought there.

Then when you're eating Chinese mitten crabs, among the huangjius that go well with it, you must include Shaoxing huangjiu. Not only do their colors complement one another, but the sweet fragrance of the alcohol cuts through the fishy taste of the crab, and increases the freshness of the crab meat. No?

Ha, I've heard of Shaoxing wine before. The alcohol they used at the Hangzhou G20 Summit was Shaoxing wine. That's a traditional Chinese alcohol.

In today's "Tasting Fine Liquors" segment, we're taking you into the ancient Chinese city famous for huangjiu - Shaoxing. The ancient city of Shaoxing is also well known as "The Venice of the East". Wandering around the alleyways paved with green slate, you'll marvel at how there seems to be a bridge or a river at every turn. Shaoxing has a lot of water resources, which serve as the solid foundation for its huangjiu brewing industry.

"Drawing water from the neighbouring Jian Lake, the reputation of the Shaoxing wine distilled here has spread far and wide." Huangjiu can be said to be the calling card of the city of Shaoxing. As the world's third largest brewer of traditional Chinese liquors, the sweet thirst-quenching Shaoxing wine has served as inspiration for many literati and shaped the local cultural scene. For thousands of years Shaoxing has served as a breeding ground for literati and talent has emerged in great numbers.

During the Wei, Jin and North-South dynasties era, the seven sages of the bamboo grove, who were representative literary figures of that time, often congregated at Lanting, or Orchid Pavilion, in Shaoxing. They would set their cups of wine in the upper reaches of a channel of water as a game, and whoever it floated down beside would have to drink the wine or compose a poem. In the year 353, the ninth year of Emperor Mu of Jin's Yonghe era, Wang Xizhi wrote the 'Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion' while in the throes of drunkenness, creating an unparalleled piece of Chinese calligraphy. During the Ming and Qing dynasties Shaoxing became even richer in culture. In around one hundred years, renowned scholars and philosophers such as Wang Yangming, Wang Ji, Ji Ben, and Xu Wei came on to the scene one after another.

In the Repulican Era, most of the literati of Shaoxing were fond of the local huangjiu, and took deep pride in it. People like Zhu Ziqing, Xia Mianzun, Liu Dongyu and Zhu Guangqian used to gather around the Baima Lake regularly for drinking sessions. And Cai Yuanpei couldn't have a meal without a drink. Lu Xun meanwhile took sipping on the sweet Huadiao variety of Shaoxing huangjiu, also referred to as Nuerhong, as a lifetime habit. Xiao Hong once wrote, "Lu Xun likes to drink a little wine, but not too much, he takes half of a small bowl or a bowl." No wonder his works are often so redolent with the heady scent of Shaoxing wine.

The brewing of traditional Shaoxing huangjiu essentially respects the rules governing "the difference in the seasons and in the local environment, the quality of material and the level of skill in any craft," as referred to in the Book of Rites. They use pure white glutinous rice, top-grade wheat and unpurified water from Jian Lake as raw ingredients. In the seventh month of the lunar year they make the brewer's yeast. Then in the eighth month of the lunar year they make the wheat yeast or "qu". And in the ninth month they ferment the glutinous rice wine, and it is not until the start of winter that they put in the grain to start the brewing process, using the traditional Shaoxing compound fermentation craft for over ninety days. At the start of winter in the following year, they start to press it, then heat the alcohol, then they seal it in jars with clay and store it away. Only after several years, or even several decades of aging, do you get a high-quality alcohol like the Huadiao, Nuerhong or Shanniang varieties of huangjiu.

Shaoxing locals use the Wu dialect word "咪" (mi1) meaning "to sip" to describe drinking huangjiu and they also compete to see who can drink more huangjiu without getting drunk. The most fearful thing is to be unable to resist a few casual words of provocation, when the reckless impulse grabs you to down the alcohol in one to reflect the intimacy between you and your friend. Although the huangjiu may look weak, if you don't know your own strength, as cup after cup go down your belly, after a few, you'll be drunk as a skunk, and you'll be doubled over on the table snoring away.

Shaoxing locals have a life of contentment full of poetry. Just like that bowl of cooling fragrant huangjiu, one can say, "There's hundreds of ways to live and hundreds of flavours to liquors."