A distiller excavated from the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun, East China’s Jiangxi Province Photo: Sina Weibo

Engaging in a reconstruction and simulation experiments on the replica of an ancient bronze distillation apparatus, a Chinese research team has recently discovered that the technique of distilled spirit in China had already existed during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD25), which has pushed back the origins of China’s alcohol distillation technology by around 1,000 years. 

Previously, documented on the famous Chinese medical book Compendium of Materia Medica, also known as Bencao Gangmu written by Li Shizhen, the renowned pharmacist in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the alcohol distillation technology was recorded as having originated in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368).

The discovery was made by a research team from the historical and cultural heritage conservation research center attached to the Zhengzhou University of Henan Province. The center has made a replica of a distiller excavated from the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun, East China’s Jiangxi Province. 

Made of bronze, the unique distiller was discovered from the tomb’s wine storage chamber. It consists of three parts: a main pot known as the “heavenly pot,” a cylindrical vessel, and a cauldron. 

This kind of ancient distiller could be used not just for filtering alcohol, but for “purifying and distilling cinnabar substances and flower dews,” said Yao Zhihui, a researcher at the center. However, that the possibility of the distiller having been used for such purposes can be “ruled out” according to parameters such as the ware’s design and the excavation site residue analysis, Yao added.

“Along with [our] experiments of using different raw materials with the replicated device, after gathering sufficient experimental data, we can confirm that this was an early set of equipment for distilling spirits,” Yao remarked. 

The team’s replica device was on a 1:2 scale of the original. The team used raw materials of liquid such as beer and yellow wine for testing the ware’s functionality. The results demonstrated that the design reached a “distillation efficiency of over 70 percent,” while successfully maintaining the “flavor and alcohol concentration of the spirits,” Yao remarked. 

One of China’s most stellar Western Han Dynasty archaeological sites, the tomb of belonged to Liu He, a dethroned emperor who was later given the title of Marquis of Haihun. 

The tomb has yielded an incredible array of artifacts, including gold coins, jade wares and bamboo slips, which have revealed the tomb owner’s “life-loving character and his aesthetic taste,” archaeologist Wang Meng told the Global Times. 

“The new research on the device’s alcohol distilling function showcases the ancient Chinese people’s exploration of the uses of grains, which is inseparable from China’s prosperous agricultural traditions,” Wang emphasised. 

Global Times