The Old-Liquor Museum: A Walk Through China’s Drinking Culture

Most people come to Jiangxi for its mountains and villages. But on a rainy afternoon, or as a half-day between sights in Nanchang, few experiences read the province as completely as a slow walk through the Old-Liquor Museum. It is the life’s work of one collector, and the first museum in China to tell the story of baijiu — the country’s clear grain spirit — not as a timeline, but as a map of where it is made.

多數人為江西的山與村而來。但在一個雨天的午後，或在南昌看景之間的半日空檔，少有體驗能像慢慢走過這座老酒博物館那般，把這片土地讀得如此通透。它是一位收藏家的畢生心血，也是中國首座以「產區」而非時間軸來講述白酒故事的博物館。

What it is, and why it is unusual

The museum opened in Nanchang in November 2019 and reopened in May 2024 fully rebuilt — the first time it ran a wholly original, purpose-built immersive multimedia experience. The framing is its real innovation: rather than marching you through dynasties, it organises Chinese liquor the way wine countries organise themselves, by region and terroir. The collection runs to more than ten thousand aged liquors and as many pieces of drinking-culture material, a holding that ranks among the country’s largest in number, breadth and rarity.

博物館於2019年11月在南昌落成，2024年5月全面重建後重新開放——首度推出純原創、專為展陳打造的沉浸式多媒體體驗。真正的創新在於它的敘事框架：不帶你逐朝逐代地走，而是像葡萄酒國度那樣，按產區與風土來梳理中國酒。館藏老酒逾萬種，酒文化藏品亦逾萬件，其數量、種類與稀缺度在全國均名列前茅。

The collector behind it

The museum was founded by Zeng Yu, widely regarded as China’s foremost collector of aged liquor. He has spent more than twenty years gathering bottles, authored a shelf of books on collecting and investing in aged spirits, and helped draft the national evaluation standard for collectable aged baijiu. That single sensibility — a collector’s eye, not a brand’s marketing — is what gives the rooms their depth: every case answers a question a curious drinker would actually ask.

博物館由曾宇先生創辦，他被公認為中國老酒收藏第一人。他收藏老酒逾二十年，著有多部陳年白酒收藏與投資的專書，並參與制定《陳年白酒收藏評價指標體系》國家標準。正是這份心性——收藏家的眼光，而非品牌的行銷——賦予展廳以深度：每一個展櫃，回應的都是一位好奇飲者真會問起的問題。

Where the famous names began

The journey opens with origins. A hall devoted to Fenjiu treats Shanxi’s clear-aroma spirit as the ancestral home of Chinese liquor, and asks the questions enthusiasts argue over — big-qu or small-qu fermentation, and when the famous Fenjiu pilot study began. Next door, the China Famous Liquor Hall traces the national liquor competitions: when they started, when they ended, and the stories behind each round of judging.

旅程從源頭開啟。一座汾酒專廳將山西的清香之酒視作中國白酒的祖庭，並拋出愛好者爭論不休的問題——大曲還是小曲，何時啟動了著名的汾酒試點。隔壁的中國名酒廳則梳理歷屆全國名酒評選：始於何時、終於何時，以及每一屆評選背後的故事。

History & culture halls

The middle of the museum is its richest stretch. A Republic-era section reconstructs, with real objects, the truth behind the “Panama Grand Prize” that once drove Chinese distilleries wild, alongside the brands, vessels and tipples of the well-to-do a century ago. A Red-culture room gathers the spirits bound up with the Long March and the slogans of the era. Further on are China’s eccentric specialty liquors — infused with plants, animals and medicinal herbs — the early export bottles that have “come home” after a hundred years abroad, and a wall of vintage labels, each a small portrait of its region and its time.

博物館的中段最為豐厚。民國展區以實物還原當年令中國酒廠為之瘋狂的「巴拿馬大獎」真相，並陳列百年前的品牌、酒器與達官貴人所飲之酒。紅色文化廳匯聚與長征、與時代語錄緊緊相繫的美酒。再往前，是中國光怪陸離的特色酒——以植物、動物、藥材入酒——以及漂泊海外百年後「回家」的早期出口酒，還有一整面年代酒標牆，每一枚都是其地域與時代的小小縮影。

The production-region galleries

This is the heart of the place, and the idea the whole museum is built around: liquor as a product of geography. The galleries walk you through the great aroma families — clear, strong, sauce, rice and mixed — and the regions that define each: Shanxi for clear-aroma, the Sichuan and Huai-river schools for strong, Guizhou for sauce, Guangxi and Guangdong for rice. A master-craftsman feature honours the people behind the bottles, from the founders of the great northern and Sichuan distilleries onward.

這裡是全館的核心，也是整座博物館立足的理念：酒是地理文化的產物。展廳帶你走過白酒的香型大家族——清、濃、醬、米、兼——以及各自的代表產區：清香之於山西，濃香之於川派與江淮派，醬香之於貴州，米香之於兩廣。一處匠人匠心展，則向瓶身背後的人致敬——從北方與四川幾大名廠的創立者一路說起。

Why it belongs on a Jiangxi trip

For travellers in Jiangxi, the local gallery is the one to linger in. “One cup of Jiangxi liquor, one volume of Jiangxi history,” the room proposes — and makes the case through Sitè, the byword for the province’s own “te-aroma” style; the Nanchang “three flowers” of Lidu and Duihua; and regional spirits from Zhanggong to Linchuan to Jiujiang’s sealed-jar wine. A dedicated Taihezhuang section tells the story of the “Liu Mao” distillery — a Republic-era estate from 1926 ranked among the “five Mao” alongside the houses that became Moutai.

對身在江西的旅人，地方展區最值得駐足。「一杯江西酒，一部江西史」——展廳如是提議，並以實證娓娓道來：四特，江西「特香」的代名詞；南昌三花中的李渡與堆花；以及從章貢、臨川到九江封缸酒的各地特色酒。一處泰和庄專區，講述「劉茅」酒廠的故事——這座始於1926年的民國酒庄，與華茅、賴茅、王茅、金茅並稱「五茅」。

One cup of Jiangxi liquor, one volume of Jiangxi history.

一杯江西酒，一部江西史。

— Jiangxi liquor-culture gallery · 江西酒文化展區

Hands-on: the immersive & tasting zones

The visit ends with its most modern rooms. A wholly original multimedia zone lets you feel, interactively, how a good bottle is actually made, and walks you through five thousand years of drinking culture as immersion rather than text. In the tasting area you meet Chinese baijiu up close — when its aroma types first emerged, how many there are, and what sets each apart across colour, aroma, taste and “style.”

參觀以最現代的展廳收尾。一處純原創的多媒體互動區，讓你以互動方式親手感受一瓶好酒究竟如何釀成，並以沉浸而非文字的方式，走過上下五千年的酒文化。品鑒區裡，你得以近距離認識中國白酒——香型緣起何時、共有多少、又如何於色、香、味、格之間各見特色。