Manmi, a rice wine brand with an anime packaging.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Rice wine is a common drink south of the Yangtze River, but in northern China one of its best known uses is as an aid to quick recovery after a woman gives birth.

Because all that is needed to brew rice wine is rice, water and yeast, those in the country's south who drink it usually make it themselves, and consequently there really has been little rice wine industry to speak of.

However, over the past two years that has begun to change, and all the signs are that no matter where you are in China, if you still have not seen bottles of white rice wine on the shelves of a supermarket or small grocery store near you, you soon will.