WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/RO/W/89
30 July 2002
(02-4212)
Committee on Rules of Origin Original:  English
CHAPTERS 1-24 (AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND FISH)
Submission by China
The following communication, dated 25 June 2002, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of China.
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Technical information on "Bai Jiu" (Chinese distilled spirits)
(Issue No. 104)
With respect to technical issue No. 104 (producing spirits, liqueurs by dilution) on page 83 of
JOB(02)/53, China support Korea’s proposal that a new split subheading be created under 2208.90,
i.e. 2208.90(c), to specify traditional types of distilled spirits produced in Asia which is called “Bai
Jiu” in China, “Soju” in Korea, “Shochu” in Japan. China propose the title of the split subheading
ex 2208.90(c) be revised as “Bai Jiu, Soju and Shochu” to cover China’s Bai Jiu. The origin criterion
for this split subheading should be CTH.
Bai Jiu refers to the types of Chinese distilled spirits which use Qu and yeast as saccharifying
and fermenting agent, cereals as raw materials, and undergo a series of production processes of
cooking, steaming, saccharifying, fermenting, distilling, blending, aging(maturing) before becoming
final products on the market. Bai Jiu are most popular alcoholic drinks in China and have been
classified as other spirits under heading 2208.90 since China adopted the HS in 1992.
Because of the varieties of raw materials used and different processes adopted in the
production of Bai Jiu from place to place in China, each type of Bai Jiu has its distinct aroma and
flavor feature. Bai Jiu are categorized according to Qu used in fermentation, or the fermentation
states, or the raw materials.
Saccharifying and fermenting agent, raw materials
Qu is a kind of saccharifying and fermenting agent for brewing in the production of Bai Jiu.
Qu has a significant impact on the aroma and flavour of spirits. There are three types of Qu used in
fermentation:
• Da Qu: made from wheat and/or barley mixed with pea. Da Qu is incubated normally in a solid
state. Raw materials of Bai Jiu produced with Da Qu are mainly Chinese sorghum.
• Xiao Qu: made from rice and the fermentation is conducted in semi-solid state. Raw materials of
Bai Jiu produced with Xiao Qu are rice grain.G/RO/W/89
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• Fu Qu: a type of mold cultured in solid medium using bran as the raw material. Aspergillus sp.
and yeasts are grown in pure culture respectively, and inoculated to cooked or steamed rawmaterials. The production process is characterized by short fermentation time and low production
cost.
Fermentation states
Bai Jiu can be divided into types according to the fermentation states:
• Produced by Solid-state Fermentation. The most  widely used production process for Chinese
distilled spirits is solid-state fermentation with the moisture content of fermenting grains covering
about 60%. Most of high quality Bai Jiu are produced in this way. It takes longer fermentation
time to obtain high quality spirits.
• Produced by Semi-solid State Fermentation. The spirits is just distilled from the semi-solid state
fermented mash. Most spirits produced from rice grain in South China are produced in thisprocess.
• Produced by Liquid State Fermentation. The production process is similar with the process for
alcohol production, but is combined with some traditional techniques. The quality of the spirit
produced in this procedure is lower than that produced in solid-state fermentation. Aromatic yeastis added to the fermentation mash to remedy this shortcoming.
• Spirits produced by solid- state fermented grain combined with liquid or semi-solid state
fermented mash. In this way, usually the fermenting grains in solid state is placed on theperforated plate inside the steamer, and the liquid state fermented mash is placed in the cauldron
above which the steamer is mounted. During distillation, the hot vapour resulting from the liquid-state mash pass through the upper layers of fermented grain and some aromatic components in it
is distilled.
Production process
Take the production process of Fen Jiu for example.  Fen Jiu is one of the most famous Bai
Jiu in China. Its aroma and flavor characteristics are summerized as light aroma and flavor, a pure and
refreshing smooth, sweet taste, and mellow with lingering aromatic aftertaste.  The manufacture
process of "Fen Jiu" is characterized by fermenting the grains in ceramic pots half mounted beneath
the ground. After the fermenting grains is distilled, the distilled grain is refermented once more, thenrefermented grain is distilled. The collected spirits from the first distillation process and the second
distillation process are aged separately and then blended. The spent grain after second distillation is
used as feed. The husk which is used as fillings in distillation operation should be steamed to expel
the unfavourable smell. The fermented grains mixed with only small amount of steamed husk is
distilled separately, without any fresh grains being added ( this is different from Maotai Jiu). Thebrewing technique of twice ferm entation and twice distillation of the fermented grains aims at
increasing the yield of ethanol.G/RO/W/89
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The production process of "Fen Jiu" is summarized as follows:
Husk Chinese sorghum Da Qu powder
 ↓↓ ¦
Steaming ground ¦¦ ↓ ¦
¦ mix with hot water (90
oC) ¦
¦ ↓ ¦
¦ heap up to allow the grain ¦
¦ to absorb water ¦
¦ ↓ ¦
¦ steaming the raw materials ¦¦ ↓ ¦
¦ add cold water, and cool ¦
¦ ↓ ¦
¦ add Da Qu powder  ← - - - - - - - - - - - - ¦
¦ ↓
¦ place the grains into ceramic vats and seal
¦ ↓
¦ fermentation for 3-4 weeks
¦ ↓
¦ - - - - - - - - →distillation - - - - - - - - - - - - →First grade spirit
¦ ↓↓
¦ the "spent" grains are cooled Aging
¦ ↓↓
¦ add Da Qu ← - - - - - Da Qu ¦
¦ ↓ ¦
¦ refermentation for 4 weeks Blending
¦ ↓ ¦
¦ - - - - - - → distillation → spent grains for feed ¦
↓ ¦
second grade spirit ¦
↓ ¦
aging and blending - - - - - - - - - →Final product
Alcohol content
The alcohol content of distilled spirits abroad is relatively low, being about 40%. In China,
however, the alcohol content of distilled spirits is usually higher than 50% but less than 65%, for theflavor and taste of the high alcohol spirits are finer than that of low alcohol content spirits due to low
solubility of some esters existing in Chinese spirits. In recent years, lots of famous Chinese Bai Jiu are
also produced in the form of low alcohol content and are getting popular in China now.
Bai Jiu with low alcohol content is manufactured with diluting technique. The alcohol content
is lowered to about 40% (v/v), and some is abou t 20% (v/v). The following two kinds of diluting
processes for production of low alcohol content Bai Jiu are currently used in China, both require
deliberately controlled proportional blending, filtering and purifying, therefore producing low alcohol
Bai Jiu by dilution technique should also be regarded as origin conferring:
• One is to chose the fine spirit as main ingredient and add water into it to adjust to appropriate
concentration of alcohol, then the low alcohol spirits are blended with flavour-enhancingconstitute. After being stored and filtered, the products can be consumed.G/RO/W/89
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• Another one is to blend and add flavor- enhancing constitute firstly, then add water to low down
the alcohol content of spirit. Because the alcohol content is low, it is difficult for some flavoring
substances to be dissolved and some sediments (mainly consisted of esters) may appear after
adding water to the spirit. The sediments have to be removed the water used has to be purified.
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