Kawas in Xinjiang is a kind of beer-like beverage, which is fermented by barley, corn and other grains, honey and hops. It looks like wine, but the alcohol content is only 0.3% to 0.5%.

At the end of 19, kawas was introduced to China. For the first time, the declining Russian aristocrats brought Kawasaki wine-making technology to Central Asian countries, Heilongjiang in China, Ili Valley in Xinjiang, Altay and Tacheng. In the following 150 years, these regions, especially the ethnic groups such as Russia, Uygur, Kazak, Hui and Han in Yili, brewed Gowasu in their own way, and maintained technical exchanges with each other, eventually developing Gowasu into a national cultural drink with strong western customs. In Yili, kawas has many names, such as Kwaqi, Gowasu, local beer and so on.