glutinous rice wine (produced mainly in Fujian province, China) is a traditional alcoholic beverage, which is prepared by fermenting cooked rice using a starter containing . In this review, the microbial diversity of fermentation starters from Fujian province, including fungi, bacteria, and yeast, is analyzed in comparison with those of "" (a traditional starter for making alcoholic beverages in Korea). The bacterial organization of Hong Qu starters was vastly variable in species composition and dominated by sp. Lactic acid bacteria were also found in some starters. In case of fungi, sp. was dominant, whereas non- yeast such as was detected. The microorganisms found in the starter are, in general, not significantly diverse compared with those found in the starter, with the exception of sp.; however, and both contain their own unique microbiota, which are quite diverse from each other.