The paint-coated drinking-vessels inherited the shape and design of bronze drinking-vessels, they involved the bronze drinking vessel in shape and design, they involved drinking containers and drinking vessels among which most common were the ear-shaped Cups. In eleven Qin Dynasty tombs of Shuihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei Province were dug out 114 ear-shaped-paint-coated drinking cups, in No. One Tomb of Mawangdui Mausoleum, Changsha were dug out 90 ear-shaped-paint- coated drinking vessels as well.
In Han Dynasty, while drinking, people usually sat on the ground, with a Zun full of alcoholic drink placing in the middle, in it was a long-handled spoon for taking the alcoholic drink out. All the drinking vessels were low and fat in shape because they were all placed on the ground.
The drinking vessels during Wei and Jin Dynasties got thin and tall in shape, for the sitting bed became popular then.
Luminous Cup: Wang Han, a famous poet of Tang Dynasty , wrote a well -popular line saying," A luminous cup and tasteful grape wine in it shining upon each other." A Luminous cup is a kind of highly- valued cup made of jade, which can be copied nowadays.
Alcohol-Flowing-backward Pot: In Shanxi Province Museum there exists a alcohol-flowing-backward pot made of china, produced by Yaozhou kilin in North Song Dynasty. The drinking pot is 19cm high, with its belly 14.3cm in diameter and a lid useless only for decoration. There is a tiny hole in the middle of its bottom. When the pot's bottom is downside up, the alcoholic is poured in through the hole which is linked to a separating-water pipe in the middle of the pot, and a hole on the separating-water pipe higher than the highest level of the alcoholic. When the pot is placed in the right side, there is no alcoholic drink dripping through the hole at the bottom. A separating-water pipe is also placed under the pot mouth, so no drink can flow out of it when the drink being poured in. The design of the cup can be ranked above god's cleverness.
Yuanyang Two-way Rotating Pot
It was used in the Imperial Palace of Song Dynasty. The pot could
pour out two different drinks by turning in different two ways.
Justice Cup with Nine Dragons Carved on
It was produced in Song Dynasty. On the upper part is a cup within
which there is a dragon carved holding the head up, and on the other
parts were carved eight dragons. It's why the cup is named Nine-dragon
Cup. At the bottom of the cup was a disc and a hollow base. When the
alcoholic being poured into it, and the quantity doesn't exceed a
certain limit, there is no drops of the alcoholic dripping down, if
the quantity poured into the cup goes over the limit, it will be
sucked into the hollow base through the body of dragon, for this
reason it was named Justice Cup.
Dushan Giant Jade Jar
It was a giant jade jar carved out of a whole big piece of colorful
dark jade stone, only used for containing and storing alcoholic drinks
. It is five meters in circumference, with oceanic dragons and animals
coming in and out among sea waves carved on all sides, their figures
and designs vivid in shape, and great and tremendous in momentum, and
it is 3,500 kgs in weight and can hold 1500 kgs of alcoholic drink. It
was said the giant jade jar was transported from the other place and
then placed on Qionghua Island by Hu Bilie, founder of Yuan Dynasty,
who ordered his men to transport it to here in 1286, and used to store
the alcoholic to entertain the meritorious generals and ministers in
founding his empire. Nowadays it is kept in Qiantuan City of Beihai
Park in Beijing.
Modern technology of brewing alcoholic drinks and liquors and living mode throw remarkable influence on drinking vessels. From the beginning of 20th century on, the self- brewing and self- consuming production mode which had lasted for severed thousand years was getting obsolete and dying out due to the rapid development of brewing -alcohol-drinks industry. In modern distilleries and wineries and breweries, the alcoholic is usually packed in bottles and jars, as to beer, it is mainly packed in bottles, buckets and tins etc. Before the 70s and 80s during which people's living standard was relatively low, people of most countryside and parts of municipal districts generally self prepared drinking vessels if buying the alcoholic contained in jars. But in a short period , the bottle- packed alcoholic has been popular and so the drinking vessels used before in ordinary households have been obsolete and dying out. As to drinking- wares they seemly remain unchangeable. Of course in some areas, there still remains the self-brewing and self-consuming production mode, which becomes a tiny part during the recent decades
Great changes have been taking place during the recent decades as to sorts of drinking vessels and wares being used among the people. Over ten years before, the highly-alcoholic liquor was consumed in a large quantity whether over the large countryside or in cities while drinking of rice alcoholic drink was popular over Southeast China. The output of beer was small in quantity before 80s. But after 80s, the output of beer has been shooting up, ranking the first in quantity among all sorts of alcoholic drinks, and the consumption of grape wine. Brandy and Whisky has always been relatively small. The feature of consuming the alcoholic decides the characteristics of drinking vessels in this period as follows:
The small sized drinking cups are rather popular, which are mainly used for drinking white alcoholic liquids. Glass and china are mainly materials which are used to make drinking vessels. During the recent years, some drinking vessels are made of jade and stainless steel.
The medial-sized drinking vessels can be used as both tea- vessels and drinking vessels, such as drinking vessels for beer and grape wine, they are mainly made of the transparent glass.
In order to stimulate the sales of the alcoholic, some producers of the alcoholic designed their containers in the shape of drinking cups, which is greatly favored by consumers. After the alcoholic being drunk up, the container can be also used as the cup. With the improvement of living standard, tins of beer are getting more and more popular, tins for holding beer are a typical example combining the packing container with drinking-wares.