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8.2 Chinese Culture of Drinking Etiquette
China enjoys a long history, her splendid culture dots all
the nationalities, which has nurtured rich and different folk
customs of drinking alcohols, some of which pass down to the
present.
Alcoholic Beverages-- Moralities and Etiquette of Drinking
Beverages.
In history, Confuscism had been praised and admired by
the rulers as formal thinking to rule over the country
and strengthen national defense, the customs and rules of
drinking beverages were also greatly influenced by doctrine
of confuscism. Confuscism focused on the moralities of
drinking alcoholic beverages.
Moralities of drinking alcoholic beverages earliest
appeared in ¡¶ Shang Shu¡· and ¡¶The Book of Songs ¡· , its
meaning was that drinkers should follow social moralities,
shouldn't do as Emperor Zhou did--"violation of humanism and
indulgence in drinking", ¡¶ Shang Shu ¡¤ Forbidden- drink
Document ¡· chiefly represented the Confuscian morality of
drinking alcohols-- there was no drinking except for the
occasion ceremony of paying esteem and worship to gods was
being held; no or rare drinking except for the moment you
didn't feel well in order to save grains; no big- group
drinking (people were prohibited from gathering in large
groups for drinking ) ; no indulgence in drinking ( then in a
result deserting management of governmental affairs ) .
Confuscism had no objection to drinking, considering it as
goodness that people celebrated esteem to gods, show respects
to the aged and entertained guests with alcoholic beverages.
The ways of drinking alcohols as a culture of diets
had been developed into a set of etiquette that all should
follow. Sometimes these rules were very complex and troublesome.
But on some important occasions, violation of these rules
were thought of as the symbol of rebellion against the
present rulers. Some people were likely to over- drink, which
resulted in their loss of self-control and making chaos, for
this reason, it is much necessary to make the etiquette of
drinking alcohols. Yuan Hong-Dao of Ming Dynasty who saw some
drunkards not follow etiquette of drinking alcohols felt that
the elder generation should be responsible for it, then he
abstracted a great deal from the ancient books about the
rules that drinkers should follow and wrote a book ¡¶
Regulations of Drinking Alcoholic Beverages ¡· specially focusing
on how to behave while drinking. Although it was written
particularly for those who played finger-guessing games while
drinking, it was also significant to common drinkers. In
ancient China there existed the following etiquette of
drinking beverages:
The host and guest should knee down face to face to show
respect to each other when they had a drink together. The
younger generation should first kneel down before the elder to
show respect to the elder generation, then took a seat after
they sat down to drink. That the young had a drink together
with the elder was called drinking companions. The elder
permitted the younger to have a drink , the latter could take
the cup up. The younger couldn't drink the alcohol in the
cup up until the elder completed his alcohol in the cup first.
There were four stages of drinking etiquette in
ancient China----esteem, memorial ceremony, tasting and drinking
-up. That's to say, the drinker should first pay esteem by
kneeling down; then pour a bit of alcohol down to the
ground to thank for the kindness of earth that provided us
with grains and foods; after that sip to taste it and express
your appreciation of it in order to make the host delightful;
at last take up the cup to drink it down.
At the feast, that the host invite the guest to
drink or serve the guest by pouring the alcohol into the
guests' cups was called "entertainment " , and that the guest
pay back the host's kindness and entertainment by serving the
host drinking was named as "thanks ", the host or guest
should present a short speech to express his good will when
inviting others to drink; sometimes, one of guests could
stand up to invite the rest at the feast to have a drink
one by one. When inviting others to drink, the invitor and
invitee should both stand from their seats. Invitation of
others to drink was usually limited to three cups.
Chinese nationality enjoys a name of big family that
has fifty-six members, all the members, generally speaking,
share different customs of drinking alcoholic beverages except
that the Hui nationality who believe in Islamism generally
don't have alcoholic beverages. Each nationality holds her own
feature in drinking-alcohol customs.
On some important festivals in a year , we Chinese hold
some special drinking-alcohol activities related to their own
features. e.g. people have "Calamus Drink " ( a good wish to
have a bumper harvest ) on the Dragon Boat festival ( the
5th day of the 5th lunar month ), on the Aged Day ( 9th day
of the 9th lunar month ) people enjoy " Chrysanthemum Drink "
( a good wish to be alive everlasting ); and people enjoy "
Lunar Year's Feast Drink " by celebration of the past year
and welcome of a coming year on the Eve of New Chinese
Lunar Year. In some areas such as Jiangxi Province, local
people usually hold a get-together to enjoy drinking alcoholic
beverages after they finish their rice transplantation in
spring. At the moment to celebrate a bumper harvest in
autumn they enjoy a particular merriment by drinking more. By
the end of the get-together, usually appeared a scene that
all the men got drunk and walked unsteadily home supported
by their own family members.
The Eve of New Lunar Year is the most important festival
and it is also the occasion on which family members get
reunited. The Eve Feast is the richest dinner. Even though
he is in poverty, seldom has a drink on the other occasions
, he must have some drink at the Eve Feast. Some people
have the custom to stay up to spend the last night in
drinking after the Eve Feast. On the New lunar Year's Day,
people usually don't pay a visit to Nieghbours and have a
custom to stay at home in some places. From the second day
of New Lunar on Year, people start to pay visits to
Nieghbours around and some guests also come over to call on,
the host entertain the guests with the prepared delicious
dishes and alcoholic beverages to celebrate the New Lunar Year.
At the beginning of New Lunar Year, the ancient Chinese
had a custom of drinking " Tusu Alcoholic Drink " among all
the family members. While drinking, they started to drink from
the youngest to the eldest. It was said that the drink
could guard against pestilence.
"Year's Feast Drink " of Korean Nationality.
The alcohol drink on this occasion was usually brewed
just before "the New Year's Beginning Day " which is similar
to the Chinese New Lunar Year's Day.
" Year's Feast Drink " is mainly made of rice,
together with such Chinese medicine herbs as roots of balloon
flower, roots of feng-feng , cubed litsea tree and Chinese
cassia tree etc. It is similar to " Tusu Alcoholic Drink ", but
different from it in compositions of Chinese medicine herbs.
People enjoy it by themselves or entertain the guests with it,
which is considered as having a function of protecting
against misfortunes and illnesses and having a longer and
healthy life.
"Newly-Harvested Grain Alcoholic Drink" of Hani Nationality
Before autumn harvest every year, Hani Nationality living
around Yuanjiang River's reach of Yuanan Province holds a
yearly ceremony with a rich "Newly-harvested Grain Alcoholic
Drink " Feast according to the traditional customs in order
to celebrate a bumper harvest of crops and safety and health
of people, cattle and poultry. What " Newly- harvested Grain
Alcoholic Drink " is actually is made in a way each family
cuts a bunch of would-be ripe grain, then hanging it on the
upper part of the rear wall of the house in order to ask
for the family god's bless and guard, over a hundred of
grains of rice or other corn taken down with some fried
into puffed grains and some not, are later put into a pot
full of alcoholic drink. A lucky date is chosen to drink it,
every family cooking a rich dinner, all the family members
having several sips of the Newly-harvest Grain alcoholic drink
and enjoying the dinner to their hearts' content.
"Chrysanthemum Drink " has a reputation of a long
history. It was recorded in ¡¶ Xi Jing Za Ji ¡· that
"Chrysanthemum Drink " was brewed with chrysanthemum leaves and
stems which were fully grown up and some other grains, and
usually drunk on September the 9th of the next year. For
this reason it was entitled to "Chrysanthemum Drink"
A story of " Daughter's Rice Alcoholic Drink " made
in South China was first recorded in ¡¶Nan Fang Chao Mu
Zhuang¡· written by Ji Han. It said that southern Chinese
started to brew a rice alcoholic drink when their daughters were
only several years old. When the alcoholic drink was brewed, it
was buried under the bottom of a pond, and dug up again to
serve the guests when the daughter got married. This kind
of alcoholic drink had been inherited and later developed
into a famous alcoholic drink named "Hua Diao Rice Alcoholic
Drink " , Whose quality has no difference from that of the
common Shaoxing Rice Alcoholic Drink except that the jar
containing it has some special features carved on. When it is
still in sun-dried mud mould, it has been sculpted various
patterns of flowers, human figures, animals, birds, natural
scenes and pavilions on. When the daughter is going to get
married, the jar is dug up and the artist is asked to
paint figures of different operas, such as " Eight Gods Cross
the Sea " , " Fortunate Pattern of Dragon and Phoenix " (
symbolizing a merry marriage ) and " Goddess Chang- e Flying
to the Moon Palace " etc. with other some lucky symbols.
" Happiness Alcoholic Beverage " is usually a substitute
of " Wedding ceremony " . Arrangement of " Happiness Alcoholic
Beverage " means holding a wedding party ; " going to drink
'Happiness Alcoholic Beverage ' " is to attend a wedding ceremony.
Show-Affection-to-Each-Other-Drink on Wedding Ceremony " of
Man Nationality When They Got Married:
At the Wedding night, the bridal chamber is brilliant
with all candles burning, the bridegroom, after taking off
the veil that covers the bride's face, sits on the bride's
left , the bridegroom's mother hands a cup full of alcoholic
drink to the bridegroom to have a sip. While the bride's
mother also hands a cup full of drink first let the bride
to have a sip, then two mothers exchange their own cup and
ask the bridegroom and bride to have a sip each again.
"Thanks-giving Dinner " of Man Nationality Before and After
Wedding Party
The bridegroom's family present a well- cooked rich
dinner contained in specially-made boxes carried by two people
to the bride's family to express their thanks that the
bride's family took great trouble in nurturing the bride,
then marrying their son. Besides, a "Thanks-giving Matchmaker
Dinner " should be cooked, placed in a round boxes, carried
by one person to the matchmaker's family to express their
thanks.
"Welcome Drink " and "Farewell Drink " of Daur Nationality.
As soon as the bride's relatives accompany the bride
to arrive at the bridegroom's home, the bridegroom's parents
should entertain the bride's relatives with two cups of
alcoholic drink which is named "Welcome Drink " , the relatives
should drink up in order to show they have been united as one
family. After that the bridegroom's family entertain the
relatives with rich dishes. After the wedding ceremony ends,
the bride's relatives usually stay for a night if living far
away. On the following day when the relatives are about to
bid a farewell, the bridegroom's parents should stand by the
gate , presenting a " Farewell Drink " to each relative .
"Engagement Feast "
"Engagement Feast " is the dinner prepared for the
engagement ceremony. After having an "Engagement Feast " both
sides agree to be engaged and the engagement contract has
come into effect. After that both sides should keep the
promise.
" A-Visit-to-Bride's Family Feast "
On the second wedding day , the newly-married couple
should pay a visit to the bride's parents, and the bride's
family, of course , entertain the couple with a rich dinner,
which is called "A-visit-to-Bride's Family Feast. " The bride's
family only prepares lunch, after lunch, the couple both will
come back.
"Showing-Affection-to-Each Other Drink "
It is one procedure of the traditional Chinese
wedding ceremony, it was also called "Matching Two Gourd
Ladles Together " meaning getting married in ancient China .
The term came into existence during Tang Dynasty. During Song
Dynasty, the custom was rather popular, two cups containing
alcoholic drink were tied and linked together with colorful
silk lace in the mid of which there was a colorful silk
flower , the couple took one cup each and drank it or
exchanged the cup then drank it. The tradition is widely
spread over China. For example, in Shaoxing District, the
ceremony is held by a married woman who is selected for her
good fortune, her having sons and daughters among the
relatives. Before having the drink, the bridegroom and bride
are provided with some rice dough nuts and two cups of Hua
Diao Rice Alcoholic Drink are poured by the selected woman
who first presents the two cups to the bridegroom and bride,
each taking one and having one sip. after it , the selected
woman will mix the two cups of drink together, which
symbolizes " You are mine, mine is yours " , and ask the
couple to finish the drink. In the end, the woman will cast
a number of candies to the crowd standing outside the door
watching.
"Arm-Crossed Drink " at the Wedding Ceremony "
At the wedding ceremony, the newly-married couple will
take a cup of drink each and cross their arms in the shape of
EMBED MSDraw \* mergeformat to have a sip in order to show
the affection and love to each other.
Folk Alcoholic Drinking Customs on the Occasions of Worship
to Gods and Ancestors, and Funeral Ceremony:
All the Chinese nationalities enjoy the customs of
holding the memorial ceremony to worship gods and ancestors
with alcoholic drinks.
When a person died, the relatives and friends all
came to express their last memory and esteem to the dead.
The Hans have a custom of holding a memorial feast- - a "Non
-animal Meat Feast ", some places call the dinner "Soybean - -
curd Feast". Although the non-animal meat feast is usually
held at the funerals, the alcoholic drink can't be saved.
Some minorities go to express their last memory to the dead
with some alcoholic drinks and meat, e.g, the Miao Nationality
Shares the tradition, the villagers usually present some jin
of alcoholic drink, rice joss sticks and candles etc. to the
family whose member was dead, the relatives should present
more. For example, the son-in-law should present twenty jin
of alcoholic liquor and a pig. The family with someone dead
should entertain the people coming to offer their condolences
with a dinner and the alcoholic. In the Nu nationality area
in Yunnan province, all the families of the village should
come to condole with some alcohol when someone is dead . The
wizard pours some alcohol into the dead person's mouth,
while all the people on the spot have a cup of alcohol each
, which is named "a Leaving Forever Drink." In ancient China,
when the dead was buried, some alcoholic was usually placed
into the tomb. This meant the dead could enjoy the fun of
drinking in the nether world. The Hans have a custom to bring
some alcohol and meat to tombs and graves to pay their
memorial esteem to ancestors on Brightness Day.
On some important festivals, when a family feast is
held, important seats should be kept for the dead ancestors,
the family head should take a less important seat, the
family can enjoy the dishes and alcoholic drinks only after
all the dishes and alcoholic drinks have firstly been placed
the dead ancestors' seats which means they have been tasted
by the dead ancestors first. Before the dead ancestors'
pictures, some dishes and cups of drink are placed with
candles burning, which expresses the family's memorial thinking
and esteem.
"Monthly Birthday Celebration Feast " and "One Hundred
Day After Birth Celebration Feast" are widely spread customs.
When one couple have a baby, relatives and friends will be
invited to have a rich dinner to celebrate at the moment
the baby has been one hundred days old or one month old.
The relatives and friends come to congratulate usually with
some presents or some money as a gift.
A Celebration feast for A Newly-born baby Under the
Guardianship of Clergyman.
In ancient times, a newly-born baby would be sent to
the temple nearby to register for a clergyman only in name
when the fortune teller said that much trouble and misfortune
would fall upon the baby. Wealthy and powerful families
usually held magnificent ceremonies-- paying a visit to the
clergy father, holding big feasts and worshipping gods and
ancestors. All the relatives and friends would be invited to
have dinners for celebration.
Long-and-Healthy Life Celebration Feast.
We Chinese have a custom of celebrating the aged
people's birthday. The fifty, sixty and seventy birthdays are
entitled to great birthdays, which are usually celebrated by
his or her children or grandchildren with bumper feasts, all
the relatives and friends invited.
"Beam-placed-on-the-roof Celebration Feast " and " Moving
-into-a-new-house Celebration Feast "
In the countryside of China, building of a new house
is a great event. During the construction, beams placed on
the roof of the house is a very remarkable process. For
this reason a feast is held for celebration. In some places
there exists a popular custom of watering the beams with
alcoholic drinks. After completion of the house and removal
of the family into the new house, a feast is also held to
not only celebrate completion of building the house but also
worship gods and ancestors for asking their blessing.
" A Feast for Opening a Business " and " A Division of
Dividends feast "
A feast is held for celebration at the moment a
business starts. A feast is usually held for celebration by
the end of a year when profits of a business are divided
according to the shares
" A Farewell Drinking Dinner "
It is held at the moment a friend is going to leave to
express the feeling to be reluctant to part each other. During
the warring period, when brave warriors were sent to carry
out very dangerous tasks which would take risk of their lives,
the commanders usually presented a cup of alcoholic drink to
each of them in order to encourage them to succeed in
completing the tasks.
A Way of Drinking the Alcoholic by Sucking
It is a peculiar way of drinking the alcoholic
handing down from the ancient times, which is popular in
many places of the Southwest and Northwest. In merry days or
festivals, a jar of alcoholic drink is taken out to entertain
guests, people are sitting around the jar, each holding a
pipe and placing it into the jar to suck the alcoholic
drink through the pipe, the number of suckers reaching up to
five to six or even seven to eight. The air is rather
cheerful while people suck the alcoholic . This peculiar way
of drinking the alcoholic plays a role of exchanging people's
feelings.
A Way of Drinking in a Ring
It is a peculiar way of drinking the alcoholic among
the Yi nationality. People can have a drink in any places,
hosts and guests all sitting on the ground in rings , a cup
of alcohol passed by turns in a ring, each having one sip.
This custom is said to stem out of a very moving legend: In
a big mountain lived three men--- a Han, a Tibetan and a Yi
who pledged to be faithful to brotherly relationship. One year ,
the youngest Yi invited the other two brothers to have a
dinner, the left rice in the pot turned to be a tasteful and
fragrant rice alcoholic drink. The three brothers offered the
drink from one to another, all wishing to leave the
fragrant drink to others to enjoy, the drink being passed
down from one to other, from morning till night, still
remained in the drinking vessel. Later the god informed them
that hard working could produce more tasteful drink after it
was taken in . Then the three brothers started drinking it by
turns in a ring, all getting drunk.
The Chinese's hospitality is fully expressed at feasts
or dinners. People will exchange their feelings while they
urge others to drink more , their love to each other will
be purified and raised to a higher level. While drinking, we
Chinese like urging others to drink more in order to express
the host's and hostess' honesty and friendship. The more the
guest drinks, the more cheerful the host or hostess feels,
which symbolizes having good opinions of the host or hostess
. If the guest refuses to have a drink, the host or hostess
will feel disgraced. Some people have concluded the ways of
urging others to drink more as follows: "a polite urge ", "a
forceful urge " and "a punishing urge ". These ways of urging
others to drink more express the traditional, simple, and
honest remaining customs on the one hand, but also have some
negative effects on the other hand.
"A Polite Urge" is a way to show the traditional
virtues of drinking etiquette--to urge guest to drink more in
a manner of politeness and proper formalities.
When a feast starts, the host begin with his first
urge by delivering a short speech, all the guests and host
should stand up at the moment . The host will firstly drink
to the bottom, then turning the cup upside down to show he
has already had his drink, which shows his respect to the
guests. The guests on this occasion should usually drink the
cup up. During the course of the feast, the host usually
go around the tables to urge the guests to drink more.
"A Return Urge " is a way the guest is grateful to
the host for his entertainment to ask the host to drink more.
" An Each Other's Urge ". It is a way to urge each
other or one another to drink more among the guests. In
order to ask others to drink more, the propose will find
out various excuses and reasons to urge others to drink more.
If the guest who is asked to drink more can't find out
the reasons to reject, he is obliged to drink more. During
the course of searching for excuses to refuse the proposer's
invitation, the love and friendship among drinkers will be
improved and bettered.
" The Substitute Drinks on Behalf of the Invitee "
It is a way which can not only keep the invitee's grace
but also save the face of the host or guest as well and
doesn't make them feel disappointed . If you are unable to
drink or have drunk too much, and the host or the guest
persists in asking you to drink more in order to show his
esteem, in such a case; you can ask a substitute to drink on
behalf of you. At the wedding party, the brides- maid and
bridegroom-best-man are usually the ideal substitutes, who must
be capable of drinking much more.
In order to urge others to drink more at the feast,
there are many interesting expressions such as you should
drink a toast if you have a good will with me, or never
have an adequate drink if you have a profound friendship with
me; or just have a sip if you have no deep affection with
me. "
" A Punishing Urge to Drink More "
It is a peculiar way of the Chinese to urge others
to have more drink. There exists a variety of excuses of
punishing urge, but the most common is probably to urge
those who are late for the feast or dinner or party to
have three cups of drink in a rush, which sometimes have some
characteristic just making fun of those being late for the
feast.
The Tibetan nationality is very hospitable and likely
to entertain guests with Highland barley Alcoholic Drink .
When serving the guest, they first pour a full cup of the
drink then present it to the guest. The guest should accept
it with two hands, then one hand holding it, another hand's
middle finger and thumb dipping into the cup and flicking
drops of the drink upward to worship heavenly gods, after it
, repeating the movement twice respectively to worship ground
gods and Buddha. This sort of tradition reminds people of
being aware that the origin of the Highland Barley Alcoholic
Drink results from the generosity of heavenly gods, ground
gods and Buddha. For this reason people should first worship
god before enjoying the drink. While drinking, the Tibetan
must follow the custom: the guest first has a sip, then the
host fills up the cup; the guest has a second sip, and
the host fill up the cup again, then another repetition.
After that, the guest should drink up, which symbolizes you
consider the host highly. The more the guest drink, the
happier the host feel. which signified the host's well- brewed
alcoholic drink. When urging the guest to drink more, the
Tibetan are accustomed to presenting the gentleman with a
large cup or a big bowl, but presenting ladies with a small
cup or a small bowl.
The Zhuang nationality usually uses white china spoons,
not cups to present the alcoholic to each other. When
drinking, the host and the guest take a spoon each to get
some drink from a bowl full of drink, then exchanging their
spoons to take it with. At this moment the host will begin
drinking chant:
"A tin-pot full of alcoholic liquor shining.
Present it to you with my honesty.
Beg you to take it in with your pleasure.
Urge you to drink more as I worship gods.
A white china bowl full of alcoholic liquor shining.
Present it to you, please no refusing.
Although the drink not so tasteful and fragrant.
I urge you to drink with my true affection.
I'll consider you as a god if you have half the
drink."
The Yugu nationality living in Northwest China has a
custom of presenting two cups of drink to the guest. No
matter how many guests the host has, he takes out only two
cups, the host present will use the cups to urge the guest(s
) to drink double cups of alcohol by turns.
Drinkers' wager game while drinking is a particular
method in China to help obtain more fun. The drinking wager
game shares a long history. At start it was probably set up to
keep a certain rule while people drank. There occurred " Drinking
Discipline " during Han Dynasty. That's to say, the drinking
rules were set up at feasts so that those who didn't follow
the rules and didn't drink the cup up would receive a
certain penalty. During the primitive times, there existed a
shooting game at feasts--those losing their shooting games
would be fined to drink more. There once existed a "
Casting-arrow-into-a-drink-pot Game " among our ancestors, which
stemmed out of the Shooting game of West Power of Zhou
Dynasty. There was a pot placed on the table, all the guests
cast arrows into the pot by turns, those casting more
arrows into the pot were game winners and those losing the
game should have more drink. In Chapter 44 of ¡¶ Red- chamber
Dream¡· there is a vivid description of drinking wager game
as following: Yuanyang ( a maid servant ) first drank up a cup
of rice alcoholic drink, saying with a smile, " The drinking
rule is as authoritative as the military order, everyone, no
matter you are a lord or a servant, should follow my orders,
those offending against my orders should be fined. " In general,
the drinking wager game is used as a penalty to urge
drinkers to drink more, but the chief purpose to carry out
the drinking wager game is to make a more cheerful air
while people drinking . It is quite common case that at feasts
the people present don't know each other. The drinking wager
game plays a role of catalytic promoter to stimulate a
cheerful scene appearing at dinner tables.
The drinking wager game can be played in various ways.
Nobles and intellectuals played the drinking wager game that,
of course, was different from that of the common citizens did.
The former played it by means of writing- poem competitions,
word-puzzles and puzzle guessing etc. While ordinary people
played it in a way which was simple, easy to perform with no
preparation.
Picture 8.1 Drinking Vessel Flowing Along Winding Rivelet
Picture 8.2 Throw A Arrow into a Kettle to decide who should drink
Picture 8.3 Jiu Cho
Picture 8.4 A finger-guessing game
The most common and simplest way of playing the
drinking wager game is named " a finger-guessing game. " i. e.
the drinkers both should stretch out his fingers in a certain
shape to stand for a certain number, while they both should
say certain number at the same time. If the number said by one of
the drinkers is just equal to the one that both drinkers'
fingers stand for adding up together, the drinker who says
the right number is a winner, the other is a loser and
should have a drink. If they both say a right number there
is no winners this time and they should repeat the game.
A Game of Passing Down a Flower While Beating a Drum
It is a cheerful , lovely and intense penalty game
for drinking more. At feasts or dinners, the host and guests
take their seats in a proper order, in order to do
justice to all people present a person sitting in another
separated section is responsible for beating a drum. When the
game starts, a flower is being passed down by turns. If
the person is just holding the flower when the drum stops
beating, he or she will be fined to drink a cup of alcohol.
For this reason, everyone passes the flower down quickly for
fear that he or she should hold the flower in the hand
when the drum stops beating. The operator should be tactical
in beating the drum, sometimes quick in beating. sometimes slow,
which increases the strain. All the people will focus their
eyes on the person holding the flower in the hand and all
bursting into laughter at the moment the drum stops beating,
the strained atmosphere disappears in a sudden, and the
person holding the flower in the hand has to have a more
cup of drink. If the flower is just between two persons, it
will be decided by the finger-guessing game to see who'll be
fined to drink. The game of passing down a flower by turns
while beating a drum is suitable for all people ---the young
and the aged, but it is commonly used among ladies. For
example, there exists a vivid description of the game being
played among the ladies of Jia Family in ¡¶ Red-Chamber Dream ¡·.
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