Over the past two decades, archaeologists and cultural anthropologists have increasingly stressed that alcohol— the most widely used psychoactive agent—played an immensely important role in the social, economic, spiritual, and political arenas of ancient cultures. The use of alcohol is nearly a universal human behavior, and China assumes one of the earliest places in the archaeological record for this practice, dating to as early as 9000 years ago. Multiple types of alcoholic beverages also appeared in the earliest writings of the late Shang dynasty some 3200 years ago. Alcohol may have played an important political role in ancestral rituals and feasts throughout the Neolithic and dynastic times, which helped to legitimize the political power of the elites and kings. However, our understandings of prehistoric alcohol production in general still remain sporadic. This problem is primarily because of the insufficient research on this subject, as compared with some regions in other parts of the world.