The geographical patterns of Chinese liquors during 1995–2004

Chinese liquors come from a variety of different regions in China. This diversity can be attributed to the difference in microorganisms, but also to the biophysical environment. The latter constitutes a significant basis for the fermentation of products, but has not been adequately understood. Using spatial statistics analysis, we studied the causes of regional differences of Chinese liquors in the perspective of climatic and socio-economic environment. Temporal changes in the density of Chinese liquor manufacturers in each prefecture-level administrative unit from1995 to 2004 revealed no changes in spatio-temporal distribution patterns of Chinese liquors. Most manufacturers were distributed in moderate climatic regions in both developed areas and less developed areas. Socio-economic factors had a significantly positive impact on the development of the Chinese liquor industry, while the climatic environment plays a crucial role in determining their difference a regional scale. Overall, this study provided scientific evidence for the importance of the biophysical environments, especially climate, to determine the geographical patterns of fermentation products.