Sweet Trip to the Fireland - Complete Self-Guided Travel Guide to Turpan, Xinjiang

Author: Tie Mei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: This is currently the only comprehensive self-guided travel manual in China about Xinjiang, covering all the historically renowned travel routes and attractions in the region since ancient times. With it, your understanding of this vast land will be as familiar and in-depth as someone who has lived there for many years. These places have been visited and explored multiple times by the author of this series, making the information even more detailed, complete, and trustworthy. The text is filled with humanistic care, emotional concern, and informational support for self-guided travelers. For easy use and reference, each book includes detailed travel route diagrams.
During the Tang Dynasty, wine had a significant influence in the central plains. The grape cultivation techniques and winemaking methods learned from Gaochang likely persisted for a long period in the Tang era, as evidenced by the frequent mentions of wine in Tang poems. Wang Han's famous poem "Cool State" includes the well-known lines: "Beautiful grapes, fine wine, night-light cups, eager to drink, pipa calls from horseback." Liu Yuxi also wrote poems praising wine, saying, "I am originally from Jin, planting this like jade, brewing it into fine wine, drinking all day is not enough." Poets like Bai Juyi and Li Bai also composed verses admiring grape wine. At that time, the Hu people opened taverns in Chang'an to sell wine from the Western Regions. This is reflected in the line: "Trampled flowers, no place to visit, laughing into the taverns of the Hu women."
The wine culture and drinking customs of Turpan are equally ancient. Ancient texts record that the men and women of Turpan "enjoyed drinking and had a high tolerance." Their traditional winemaking methods are still used in the folk today. The wine brewed by the people of Turpan using traditional methods is called "Muselis." It is a popular beverage among the Uyghurs, regarded as nectar. Its production method is also quite unique. This drink is entirely made from fresh grapes, resulting in a juice similar to wine. After picking the fresh grapes, they are placed on a clean board, spread out, and beaten with cleaned camel thorn leaves (leaving only the spines). The grapes' skins and seeds are left on the board, while the juice flows into a basin. Then, it is filtered with cloth and poured into a pot for simmering. Ten kilograms of grape juice is mixed with twenty kilograms of water and slowly simmered over a low flame until it becomes ten kilograms of juice. After simmering, it is poured into a clean jar, covered, and sealed, placed in a sunny spot to ferment. It takes about 40 days to ferment. During fermentation, there is a bubbling sound like water boiling, and when it becomes completely quiet, it indicates that the brewing is complete.