From shochu in the Yuan Dynasty to modern liquor, the birth of high-quality liquor in China has gone through centuries. But the current spirits(baijiu) is no longer the shochu it used to be, but this does not affect the main position of baijiu (Chinese spirits) in the Chinese liquor market.
As one of the three major distilled spirits in the world, Chinese liquor may be inferior to the other two in terms of history, but in terms of volume, relying on the single market of China, it has achieved an output value of hundreds of billions of scale (non-retail price comprehensive) . The history I am talking about should start from the merger of shochu houses into a state-owned liquor, and the beginning of setting the fragrance and making the tune! Before that, it could not be called Chinese spirits, only shochu.
In fact, whether it is modern spirits or shochu, the produced koji and fermented grains produce aroma and fermentation reaction, and then the liquor is distilled at high temperature. However, as microorganisms, they are very sensitive to the environment, temperature, humidity and raw materials, so the spirits making process has been optimized in various places, and the spirits in each place have their own characteristics.