The white spirit – Quniang – boasts its special brewing technique of Diaoshao and is popular and highly praised by Quzhou locals. [Photo/WeChat account: quzhoufb]

In China, alcohol is also called the "Water of History" because stories of liquor can traced back to almost every period of Chinese history – and it is believed that China has about 4,000 years of recorded history. 

So it is that the brewing technique of Diaoshao white spirit – included among the seventh group of representative items of intangible cultural heritage in Quzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province – is popular and highly praised by locals.

Xiu Wanliang, an inheritor of the Diaoshao brewing technique recently explained that like steamed rice, the white Diaoshai spirit is steamed from rice, through cooling the steam into liquor.

Xiu began to learn about making the spirit from his father in 2010 and after 10 years of diligent study, he finally came to see what was behind the exacting choice of raw materials, distillation, storage and all about the brewing process.