KAOLIANG

Two bottles of kaoliang

Kaoliang (Chinese: 高梁酒; Pinyin: gāoliángjǐu; Wade-Giles: kao-liang-chiu; Taiwanese POJ: kau-liâng-chiú; literally "sorghum liquor") is a strong distilled liquor, made from fermented sorghum. It is made and sold in both China and Taiwan, and also popular in Korea. Kaoliang is an important product of the Taiwanese islands of Kinmen and Matsu. Kaoliang ranges between 54 and 63 percent alcohol by volume.

Kaoliang in popular culture

• The 1987 Zhang Yimou film Red Sorghum (紅高梁; Pinyin: Hóng Gāoliáng) is set in a rural kaoliang distillery.
• The fictional character Li Kao, from Barry Hughart's award-winning novels Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen, is named after kaoliang; his mother died in childbirth while requesting a last drink, and the abbot attending the birth mistook the syllables "Kao...li...kao..." as her intended name for the child. In Bridge of Birds, while telling the story of his birth, Li Kao describes kaoliang as "the finest paint thinner and worst wine ever invented."

See also

• Baijiu
• Chinese wine
• Korean wine
• Maotai

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