Ancient Chinese doctors recognized the health care function of wine long time ago. In the book of “SHI JING”, doctors said drinking wine was good for people’s long life. In the book of “HAN SHU”, people regarded wine as something that the God gave us.
Wine was usually the Monarchs’ favorite drink and people knew it was good for health. Grapes were described in the book of “SHEN NONG BEN CAO JING”. It said that grapes were sweet, they helped people become stronger, moderate eating of grapes was good for people’s long life. Grapes could be used to make wine.
Wines were also mentioned in the book of “BENCAO GANGMU” written by Li Shizhen. It said that wines were good for kidney. They were also good for people to keep young. When people proposed a toast of wine, they used to wish people to have a long life. When Hu xihui, the writer of the book “YINSHAN ZHENGYAO”, talked about wines in his book, he indicated that wines were good for people’s blood circulation. In the book of “GUJIN TUSHU JICHENG”, wines were mentioned to be good for people to recover from fatigue. Wines were helpful for appetite and digestion. They were also good for people’s skin.
