Museum for a national treasure

The museum's total of nine halls spanning the early Han Dynasty to the modern age begin in a typical chronological fashion starting in 156-87 BC when Emperor Wudi received baijiu from the people of the Maotai region as a tribute. The drink was special enough to have the emperor record there was "something good tasting in Guizhou" - a record of the event that can still be seen in the museum.

Something you might well catch a glimpse of in Maotai and certainly in the museum is Du Kang, a burly figure with a cheerful countenance often depicted in paintings and sculptures pouring a large jug of baijiu. He is widely understood to be the inventor and "god of baijiu" by locals. Many of them - mostly Moutai staff - ceremoniously burn incense and offer food to Du Kang each year before reciting a vow to keep up the impeccable reputation of the national liquor in the coming year.

Despite homage to Du Kang as the inventor of baijiu, it is actually monkeys who first discovered it, according to the museum's antique records. Ancient novels say that the monkeys removed various fruits, left them to ferment and then drank the resulting alcoholic concoction.

Perhaps one of the most striking aspects of the museum is the array of drinking vessels on display from the local region as well as other areas in China. The sheer intricacy and workmanship of the vessels are a testament to the cultural and social importance of alcohol in ancient China. Liquors found in vessels from the Shang (1600 BC-1046 BC) and Zhou (1046 BC-256 BC) dynasties remain clear and fine - though there were no volunteers to drink it.

Moving through the initial main hall of the museum, visitors can experience the development of baijiu through the years, as processes became more refined to create stronger liquor. Full scale models of women crushing grains underfoot in preparation for fermentation, a tradition still upheld in the town today, is the centerpiece.