China: Ancient China

Vines have long been grown in China. Geological fossils show that the V. romanetii Roman du Caill. ex Planch. existed in Linqu County, Shandong Province, 26 million years ago. As outlined in origins of viniculture, to date the earliest chemically attested instance of grapes being used in a fermented beverage, probably mixed with other fermentable ingredients, is at the Neolithic site of Jiahu in the Yellow River during the 7th millennium bc. The earliest written record of grapes in China is seen in Qi Yue in the Odes of Bin in the Classic of Poetry:

In the sixth month they eat the sparrow-plums and grapes; in the seventh, they cook the kui and pulse; in the eighth, they knock down the dates; in the tenth, they reap the rice and make the spirits for the spring, for the benefit of the bushy eyebrows. (Translated by James Legge)