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Chinese Culture of Drinking
Almost all the emperors of late Shang Dynasty were
characteristic of lusting after beauties and exerting cruelty
on people, indulging in comfort and pleasure. The aristocrats
then were all fond of alcoholic drinks. According to modern
conjecture, people living in Shang Dynasty were getting poorer
and poorer in health because most alcoholic vessels and wares
were made of bronze at that time, which were composed of tin,
a poisonous substance easy dissolve in drinks, which would do harm
to people's health after they drank . Emperor Zhou was typical
of a luster for beauties and drinks. ¡¶ Shi Ji. Yin Ben Ji ¡·
recorded, "Emperor Zhou ordered his men to gather much drink
contained in a pool and hang a forest of pieces of meat,
then ordered men and women unclothed to run after one another
among the meat forest while he and his ministers drank day
and night." The following generations usually used " a drink
pool and a forest of pieces of meat " to describe a
luxurious life and lust for sexual desire. That Emperor Zhou's
savage dictatorship and indulgence in drinks resulted in the
extinction of his power. Zhou Dynasty issued a severe
forbidden-drink order in the districts where people used to
be ruled by Shang Dynasty.
There were countless cases in the ancient times that
over-drinking led to miss good chances, sometimes even lose
some emperors' and kings' powers. One case was that King Gong
of Kingdom Chu led his armies to fight against the armies
of Kingdom Jin in Yan Ling . Kingdom Chu was defeated and
King Gong's eye was hit by an arrow. In order to prepare
for the next battle, King Gong sent for Zi Fan, a general of
Kingdom Chu's armies. To his astonishment, Zi Fan Got drunk and
couldn't come to discuss the military affairs. King Gong
sighed in despair, " My army doomed to failure. " No way out,
he was forced to retreat from the battle field. Zi Fan was
punished to death for his violation against the army's rules .
That Emperors or kings sometimes got drunk could bring
into a good end, e.g. Qi Hangong, king of Kingdom Qi lost his
crown while he got drunk. He felt disgraced for it and
didn't hold court for three days during which a great natural
disaster took place, a lot of people had no food to eat. No
way out, Guan Zhong, prime minister of Kingdom Qi, had to
make his own decision to distribute the grain of state barn
to those having no food, people were wild with joy. There
spread a fold song saying why Qi Hanggong didn't lose his
crown once more.
During Spring-and-Autumn Age of Eastern Zhou Dynasty,
Gou Jian, King of Kingdom Yue, after defeated by Fu Chai, king
of Kingdom Wu, ordered his people to give more births so
as to realize his goal of restoration of a dethroned monarch
and the plan of ten years' preparation with great efforts and
ten years' unforgettable lessons, encouraging those with more
births with alcohol: the couple having one more son would be
rewarded with two jars of alcohol and one dog, and the couple
having one more daughter would be rewarded with two jars of
alcohol and one young pig. At the moment King Gou Jiang led his armies
to suppress Kingdom Wu, his people presented tasteful alcohol to
King Gou Jian. He didn't enjoy it by himself but poured it into the
upper part of a river and shared with all the officers and soldiers,
which extremely excited and encouraged all the armies. Nowadays,
there still exists an alcoholic drink named " Tou Lao He " --namely
Pouring-into-rever Drink.
There was a story similar to what was talked above recorded
in a book ¡¶ Jiu Pu ¡·. During the Warring-State Period, Qin Mugong,
king of Kingdom Qin, sent his armies to suppress Kingdom Jing. When
arriving at the riverside, Qin Mugong intended to reward his army
men with alcohol in order to encourage their bravery and loyalty,
but owned only one pot of alcoholic mash. Someone presented a
suggestion that even though there was one grain of rice, if cast
into the river, your majesty could also share it with all the army men.
Accepting it he poured the alcoholic mash into the river, all the
army men got drunk after having it.
This story took place When Chu Xuanwang, King of Kingdom Chu,
was in the most powerful position. He had a meeting to interview all
the dukes or princes. Duke Gong of Kingdom Lou was late for the
meeting with an inadequate gift of alcoholic drinks. Chu Xuanwang felt
much angrier at it. Duke Gong said that he was descended from Emperor
Zhou and had made contributions to the founding of Zhou Dynasty, he
felt disgraced for sending the gift of alcohol. He blamed Chu Xuanwang
for discontention of inadequate alcoholic drink and thought that Chu
Xuanwang's doings went too far. After that Duke Gong gloomily left
for his territory without saying farewell to Chu Xuanwang. Chu
Xuanwang then launched a military attack on Kingdom Lou and asked
Kingdom Qi's help to let his armies cross Qi's territory (for Kingdom
Qi was situated Between Kingdoms Lou and Chu ) to suppress Kingdom Lou.
Liang Huiwang, King of Kingdom Qi , had a ling-time dream to invade
Kingdom Zhao, however, he was afraid of Kingdom Chu's help when
Kingdom Zhao was in danger. This time since Kingdom Chu asked for his
help, he needn't worry about Kingdom Chu's attack on his country. So
Handan, capital of Kingdom Zhao without knowing why became the victim
of the incident.
During late Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang and Xang Yu led their own
forces each to battle against the armies of Qin Dynasty. Liu Bang
occupied Xian Yang (Capital of Qin Dynasty ) first, but Liu Bang's
armed forces were not as powerful as Xian Yu's. Xuan Yu filled with
great anger when he heard the news, ordering his general named Dang
Yangjun to command the armies making an attack. After entering Xian
Yang, Xang Yu stationed his armies at Xi-xi, while Liu Bang stationed
his forces at Bashang. One of Liu Bang's ministers named Chao Wushang
sent a messenger to report to Xian Yang that Liu Bang intended to be
king of Guanzhong ( Shanxi province ). Xian Yu filled even greater
anger When he heard the news, then he gave an order that all the army
men should have enough breakfast the next day and launched a big
attach upon Liu Bang's armies, defeating them in a sudden. Liu Bang
was shocked when he heard the news from Xian Yu's younger uncle named
Xian Bo, an unavoidable miserable war would immediately break out. In
order to win Xian Bo's support and sympathy, with great respect , Liu
Bang presented a cup of alcohol with two hands , wishing Xian Bo to
enjoy a long and healthy life and both agreed to become related by
marriage. That Liu Bang sought for sympathy and affection won over
Xian Bo, who promised to say beautiful words before Xian Yu for Liu
Bang and invited Liu Bang to come over to thank for Xian Yu's kindness
and generosity the next day. At the following day's feast, although
there were many more tasteful drinks and delicious dishes than
necessary needs, a terrifying atmosphere hanged over the scene, Fan
Zheng, enjoying a respectable and wise parenthood, favored to kill
Liu Bang all the time. At Hong Men Feast, he repeatedly gave hints
meaning that Xian Yu should order to seize and kill Liu Bang on the
spot. However, Xian Yu ignored his hints and hesitated to make a
decision. Fan Zheng, seeing the situation, ordered Xian Zhuang to
perform the sword art dance, pretending to add more pleasure to the
feast apparently, but in fact taking a chance to kill Liu Bang. In
order to protect Liu Bang, Xian Bo stood to perform the sword art dance,
too and saved Liu Bang's life. At this critical and dangerous moment,
Fan Kuai, one general of Liu Bang's, broke into the gate of feast tent
with great anger. Seeing the general outstanding in manner, Xian Yu
was obliged to ask his name and rank in the army, then ordered to
award Fan Kuai with a ham, questioning whether he was able to have a
drink or not. Fan Kuai answered that he was even not afraid of death,
it was unnecessary for him to refuse to have a cup of alcohol. Fan
Kuai took the opportunity to numbered a lot of Liu Bang's merits,
while Xian Yu could find suitable words to reject. Liu Bang seized
the chance to flee away. Zhang Liang, one of Liu Bang's important
ministers, entered to express the excuse that Liu Bang got drunk and
couldn't come to bid farewell to your majesty. Chang Liang then
presented a pair of perfectly-white jade to Xian Yu and a pair of jade
to Fan Zheng on behalf of Liu Bang. Xian Yu, who didn't know what they
really drove at, accepted them puzzledly. Seeing the situation, Fan
Zheng, his anger going beyond the control, pulled his sword and
chopped the jade into pieces. The following generations always used
the story "Hong Men feast " to refer to a hazardous situation of
killing.
¡¶ Shi Ji. Gao Zu Ben Ji¡· recorded, " In late Qin Dynasty,
as a community chief , Emperor Liu Bang, founder of Han Dynasty, was
escorting laborers to Mountain Li Shan. On the way to the destination
most of laborers were dead. When reaching Feng Xi Swamp, Liu \Bang set
the rest labourers free. As a result, only about ten strong men were
willing to follow Liu Bang to rebel, At night Liu Bang got drunk and
ordered one man advanced in front of the line. The man sent to take a
lead returned back to report that a giant snake was in the way
stopping them from marching on. Being half asleep because of over
-drinking, Liu Bang seemed fearless, saying: 'Follow me if you are a
brave man, there's nothing to fear! Then he took a lead and marched
on bravely, branching the sword and cutting the snake into two parts.
The road smoothed away. they went on with their journey for several Li,
Liu Bang felt tired, and fell asleep as soon as lying down. An old
woman was weeping on the scene where the snake was killed. Someone
asked for the reason, the old woman replied that someone killed her son.
Someone asked again how she could conclude that her son was killed.
The old woman answered that her son named Bai Dizi changed himself
into the snake. Because he was in the way, he was killed by a man
named Chi Dizi. Someone told the story to Liu Bang, Liu Bang felt
proud of it, beaming happily after hearing it.
According to the record of¡¶ Shi Ji. Biography of Sima Xiang
-ru ¡· , there existed a very wealthy, powerful and honorable family
whose grandfather was once entitled Duke Zhuo in the place of Lin Qiong.
A daughter of the family named Wen Jun newly-widowed, fell into love
with Sima Xianru and both eloped to Chengdu, Sichuan Province. As they
possessed nothing in the home but four bare sides of wall. and Wen
Jun's family refused to sponsor them at the beginning, after their
arriving at Lin Qiong, they were obliged to sell out the cart and
horses and other possession, with the money, they purchased an inn to
start their business. Wen Jun acted as a shop girl to sell the
alcoholic and Sima Xianru acted as a business boy, doing some washing.
The story was later considered as a symbol that the husband and wife
would be loyal to each other and have a deep affection for each other
under any difficult conditions . In history, Lin Qiong was a place
famous for its brewing and well flavored alcoholic drinks. "Wen Jun
Liquor " has become a famous liquor with a historic interest. A line
of ¡¶ Peach Blossom¡·. a poem written by Lou Ying of Tang Dynasty
praised.
"Several branches full of peach blossom,
Gentally in Spring breeze, brush gently against Wen Jun Liquor."
A famous poet of Song Dynasty named Lu You wrote a poem ¡¶Wen Jun
Well¡· chanting:
Being sent into exile to Western China, I become fond of drinking.
After getting a bit drunk, I like playing Chinese piano.
And I feel completely at ease without any restraints, for
My stepping out of cocoon of power, again,
I'm heading for Wen Jun Alcohol Distillery for sipping.
The story occurred in Chapter 21 of ¡¶ Legends of Three
Kingdoms ¡·, a famous Chinese historic novel. During the late period
of Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao was very powerful, holding the emperor
in his power and ordering the dukes about in the emperor's name. Liu
Bei was very weak in force although he was ranked in Emperor's uncle
-hood. In order to guard against Cao Cao's plotting to murder, Liu Bei
pretended to take no care of political affairs of the state, starting
cultivation of vegetables in his garden, which severed as playing a
plot of concealing his true intentions. Guan Yun-chang and Zhang Fei (
two brotherly followers, later two of the most important generals of
Liu Bei's) didn't know what Liu Bei really drove at, beginning to
complain about his doings that he shut his eyes from the worldly
events but paid too much attention to daily trifles like a common
citizen. One day, Cao Cao sent for Liu Bei while he was watering
vegetables. No way out , Liu Bei had to come to Cao Cao's palace
together with the messenger to pay a respect visit with great care and
stricken terror, Cao Cao said to Liu Bei with no expression on his face,
" What great things you are doing at home! " The speaker said it on
purpose and the listener knew what the speaker hinted. The words
terrified Liu Bei to turn pale . After it Cao Cao went on saying:" It
is not an easy thing that you learn to plant vegetables." which made
Liu Bei feel a bit at ease. Cao Cao continued, "Just now I saw green
plums on the tree branches in the garden, which reminds me of one past
thing, (i.e. Once Cao Cao led his armies to march through a no- water
area under the hot sunlight, soldiers felt greatly thirsty and
unwilling to march on. At this critical moment Cao Cao hit upon an
idea that he made a lie that there was a large forest of plum trees
with full of ripe plums on just in front of us. Hearing it, all
soldiers seemed to have already tasted the acid plums, which made
them have already tasted the acid plums, and made them mouth-watered,
then soften their thirty feeling. All stoop up to dash forward for
plums. Finally Cao Cao and his armies got out of the dangerous area. )
Today seeing the plums, I feel we can't miss the chance to taste it. I
happened to have the alcohol well brewed and heated by coincidence,
therefore I sent for you to come over to have a drink. Liu followed
Cao Cao to a pavilion . He saw various kinds of drinking vessels, a
plate full of green plums. They both took their seats face to face,
placed the fruit into the alcohol to heat on the fire, starting to go
on a drinking spree. In the mid drinking spree, with heavy black
clouds suddenly gathered in the sky, it was going to have a heavy rain,
Cao Cao kept on commenting on the dragon's characters and virtues,
comparing the dragon to the heroes, then asking Liu Bei who were the
present-time heroes. Liu Bei pretended to have no ambition, naming
several persons that were all denied by Cao Cao. At this moment, Cao
Cao was anxious for knowing what Liu Bei had in the mind and whether
he was going to seek power and rule over the world or not, he went on
to say, "A hero must be this kind of man who has a great ambition and
extraordinary wisdoms in mind and has the whole universe in heart and
outstanding ability to dominate the whole country". " Who would be
entitled the hero £¿" asked Liu Bei. "Only you and I deserve the name
of hero at present time." Cao Cao answered directly. Greatly shocked
at hearing these words, Liu Bei dropped the chopsticks in his hand
down to the ground unconsciously. At the moment, rain happened to pour
down with terrifying thunder noise. An idea flashed into Liu Bei's mind.
He picked up the dropped chopsticks calmly and unhurriedly, explaining
that he was too frightened by the sudden thunder noise to hold his
chopsticks. By now Cao Cao felt at ease by seeing the scene, saying, "
Do a man fear the thunder noise £¿" Liu Bei answered, " Even Confusion
-a wise man lost his self-control when hearing the sudden thunder noise,
not to mention me." By such concealing his true element and ambition,
Liu Bei made Cao Cao believe he was an common and cowed person with no
ambition. From then on Cao Cao was no longer suspicious of Liu Bei.
"Seven Great Minds Nearby Groves of Bamboo" refers to seven
famous scholars of Jin Dynasty, they were Ruan Ji, Ji Kang, Shan Tao,
Liu Ling, Ruan Xian, Xiang Xiu and Wang Xu. They had an unconventional
and unrestrained life, often singing and fish- drinking to their
hearts' content nearby groves of bamboo, therefore entitled to "Seven
Great Minds Nearby Groves of Bamboo " by the people of that time. The
most outstanding drunkard among them was Liu Ling, who illustrated
himself, "I , named Liu Ling, who was given a life by God, make a name
for fond of fish-drinking, one drink taking in one hu (hu , a kind of
ancient Chinese drinking vessel, equals a large kettle) of alcoholic
liquor, feeling awake and never getting drunk after having five hu of
alcohol. "A book named ¡¶Jiu Pu¡· described in details how Liu Ling
was fond of drinking, He had a drinking pot with himself whenever he
took a cart to go out, drinking while he walked, a man with a spade on
the shoulder following him so as to dig a pit to bury him whenever and
wherever he fell dead. Ruan Xian never care about his grace or dignity
while drinking. Every time he had a drink with his family tribe, he
never used a cup or a ladle, just had a big basin full of alcohol,
sitting by it and holding alcohol with two bare hands to the mouth. He
didn't mind when swine came over to drink, not trying to drive them
away, but drank together with the swine in the same basin. Liu Ling
once wrote a poem¡¶ Ode to Drinking Morality ¡·, its general idea was
just as the following: He drifed around in the world, no Trace to
follow, no room to live in, just sleeping everywhere to his heart's
content, the sky serving as the "quilt" and the ground as the "bed" .
Drinking was his life and his business, a drinking pot with himself
wherever he went, having drinks whether he walked or stopped to rest,
knowing nothing but drinking. He never cared about what comments
others made on himself, the more others remarked on his doings, the
more he was indulged in drinking, falling asleep when he got drunk.
Even if awoke, he still felt faintly aware of what was going on in the
society, hearing nothing even if a great thunder cracked in a sudden
in a complete silence, unnoticing anything even if he faced Mount Tai,
feeling nothing although it turned cold, hot or cool, or unaware of
vulgar and obscure matters such as interests, desires and affections
of the society. Liu Ling's poem fully reflected the intellectuals'
mind and attitudes towards the society of Jin Dynasty ¡ª¡ª¡ª the
intellectuals then were obliged to over- drink in order to forget
worries and troubles, to avoid woes and dangers and to express their
discontentment to the political affairs of that time while their
getting drunk. According to the historical records, Sima Zhao, Emperor
Wen of Wei Power was going to plead the suit with Ruan Ji's daughter
on behalf of his son. Ruan Ji made an indirect refuse by having got
drunk for two mouths, which gave no chance to Emperor Wen to plead the
suit, in the end Emperor Wen had to give up his intention. It was a
fairly typical of anecdotes then, which cast great influence on the
following generations.
At the beginning of the founding of Wei Power during Three
-Kingdom period. Cao Cao issued a severe order to prohibit alcohol, so
people had to have drinks privately and secretly, but dared not
mention the alcohol. In this case, people changed to use Confucius to
hint good alcohol and Mencius to stand for inferior alcohol, which
later became a special term of history. There was another special
expression - "Hold a position in Qing Zhou and have a post of
supervision of mails in Ping Yuan. " were also metaphors of good
alcohol and inferior one, ¡¶Shi Shui Xing Yu ¡· written by Liu Yi
-qing of Nan Dynasty recorded, " Heng Wen had an assistant who was good
at telling good alcohol from inferior one. He was accustomed to
naming good alcohol as "hold a position in Qing Zhou". Qing Zhou was a
place in which there was a community named Qi community whose
pronunciation was homophonic with navel. That is to say, good
alcoholic drinks never made drinkers feel headache but a bit dizzy;
an inferior drink was called "have a post of supervision of mails in
Ping Yuan". 'That's because there was a place named "Ge County "
within Ping Yuan, "Ge " in Chinese was pronounced the same as
diaphragm, that meant the inferior alcohol, after drinking down, could
only reach the part of diaphragm and could go down further, which
means the inferior alcohol makes drinkers feel headache.
Du Fu, a famous poet of Tang Dynasty wrote a rather popular
poem entitled to ¡¶ Songs of Eight Gods Fond of Drinking ¡· , Which
presented a vivid illustration of eight great minds of Tang Dynasty.
It pictured as following,
After drunk, Zhi Zhang sways on horse like boating;
With blurred vision, he falls down into the well, in water sleeping;
Ru Yang, even having three dou of alcohol, dare call on Emperor,
The moment he sees a cart loaded with alcohol his mouth watering,
How he wishes he could remove his feud to Jiu Quan.
Premier fish-drinks as if taking in hundreds of rivers dry,
Which cost him a great deal beyond calculation per day,
He says, fond of drinking was to avoid the crafty and treacherous.
Zhong Zi, a handsome young gentleman, when drunk, look like a jade
tree in the breeze swaying,
His head up, staring into heaven no care of nothing else while he is
drinking.
Su Jin calls himself a pious Buddhist.
But he is likely to miss praying while fond of drinking.
Li Bai, having a dou of alcohol, is inspired to create hundreds of
wonderful poems,
Drunk and asleep when Emperor sends for him, but reluctant to leave,
Calling himself a god of alcohol.
Zhang Xu is entitled to god of flowing-and-freely-stroking handwriting,
No care about his manner, behaving to his heart's content before dukes
and princes,
His handwriting turns at will, when he has three pots of drinking,
With swift-and-free strokes as clouds in the air drifting.
As if he is helped by God.
Jiao Sui got faintly drunk after taking in five dou of drinking,
At the moment his remarks even sharpen and smarten,
Which shocks all the drinker companions surrounding.
This story tells us that, founder of Song Dynasty, Emperor
Zhao Kuang-yi, had always been worrying his followers to imitate what
he had done since he started coup d'SYMBOL 233 \f "Arial"tat at Cheng
Qiao and seized the power immediately, having an idea to dismiss some
generals' power of controlling their forces. In 961 A.D, he arranged a
banquet, inviting Shi Shou-xin, Wang Sheng- qi, both of whom were
generals of empirical guards and other generals to attend it, during
the drinking, he advised them to pile up more property, houses and
land then leave them to their younger generations, and enjoy their
rest life by watching dancing and singing and indulging in beauties.
After hearing the Emperor's words, all the generals resigned their
power of controlling forces. In 969 A.D, he invited Wang Yan- chao,
commander of military district to have a feast, during which, he
forced Wang Yan-chao to hand in his power. What Emperor Zhao Kuangyi
did was copied and used repeatedly by following rulers, the purpose of
his doings was to guard against coup. But it resulted in the fact
that soldiers didn't know the commander and the commander didn't know
soldiers, the persons with power to order armies knew nothing about
commanding armies and battling, and those who were able to command
armies and master battling had no power to order armies, which greatly
weakened the fighting force of Song Dynasty's armies although it was
effective in prohibition of coup d'SYMBOL 233 \f "Arial"tat. As a
result, Song Dynasty's armies were defeated again and again in a
series of wars against those of Liao, Jin and West Xia Powers.
In literatural works, there exist a greater number of rather
popular descriptions related to alcoholic beverages in addition to the
stories mentioned above. For instance, Jin Ke's anecdote of drinking
in Kingdom Yan; in a novel of ¡¶ Legend of Three Kingdom¡· , Zhang Fei
, a general of Kingdom Shu conquered Yan Yan ( a general of Xi Chuan
Power) by pretending over-drinking; Guang Yu ( a general of Kingdom
Shu ) Killed Hua Xiong ( a general of Duke Yuan Shao ) after having
adequate alcohol. In ¡¶ Rebels at Water-margin ¡·. Wu Song fisted a
fierce tiger at Jing Yang Hill after drunk; Monk Lu Zhi-sheng made a
big violation at Temple Wu Tai Mountain after drinking too much. In ¡¶
Legends of Pilgrimage to the West ¡·. Monk Shu Wu Kong a god, stole
the "Live-Forever Drink". In¡¶Red-chamber's Dream¡· existed a "Wan
Yan Tong Bei" Drink (pronounced in Chinese Pingyin), Whose original
meaning was that ten thousand flowers were put in the same cup to brew
an alcohol, but it's pronunciation in Chinese has a homophone of "all
beauties end tragically in life" in Chinese characters. So, here it
hints that all beautiful girls would be teased by fate and end
miserably in life.
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