Wine (note: the term "wine" will be used in this article in a more general sense as a translation for the Chinese term jiu [∞s], the general term for all types of alcoholic drinks) in China can be traced back to the Shen Nong Period over 7,000 years ago when, legend has it, plants used in wine-making were already being cultivated. Simple Questions records a conversation between the Yellow Emperor and Chi Bo (the founders of Chinese medicine) in which they discuss the use of cereals, including broomcorn millet, millet, rice, wheat, and legumes in the production of alcoholic drinks. Other accounts of winemaking exist, including Yi Di Makes Wine and Du Kang Makes Wine.

Stratagems of the Warring States records Da Yu (a legendary emperor) drinking wine made by Yi Di. He finds it sweet and refreshing, but he fears that abandoning himself to drink could lead to the neglect of affairs of state. He distances himself from Yi Di and predicts that "Wine will lead to the downfall of nations." The Qin and Han Dynasty document Shiben, in which are recorded genealogies of earlier emperors and ministers, mentions Du Kang making wine.

Let us leave behind the topic of who made wine. The oldest alcoholic drink in existence in the world today was produced in China.

Tsen Yong-yi, who lectures on Chinese Cultural Studies at National Taiwan University, points out that bronze containers unearthed from Shang Dynasty tombs still contained perfectly preserved wine. Dating back 3,200 years, much earlier than the Roman wine recovered from a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea, it is the oldest alcoholic drink in existence.

The making of wine

It is said that only thriving cultures with long histories are capable of producing fine, aromatic wine.

China's traditional winemaking technology was highly advanced and had two major characteristics that set it apart from its counterpart in the West: the use of yeast, and distilling technology.

Professor Kung Peng-cheng, director of the Fo Guang University College of Humanities, points out that the role of yeast in fermentation was discovered in China prior to the Shang Dynasty. The deliberate addition of yeast to accelerate the fermentation process was a tremendous advance in the winemaking technology.

The ancients found that by maintaining a yeast culture grown on grains and adding it to boiled grain they could ferment the grain into wine. Kung explains that Chinese produced wine primarily from cereals and natural fermentation of cereals is slow. Europeans did not need to deliberately add yeast when making grape wine, because the grape contains natural enzymes in its skin which help in the fermentation process.

Historical anecdotes describe Emperor Zhou (the last emperor of the Shang Dynasty) as leading a life of unimaginable extravagance-with "pools of wine and forests of meat." This does not mean, however, that Emperor Zhou held his liquor exceptionally well. Kung explains that the ancients were able to "gobble down slabs of meat and guzzle bowls of wine" because the alcohol content in their wine was so low. Distilling is required to make potent liquor.

Legend has it that Taoist alchemists inadvertently invented distillation during the Song and Jin dynasties while trying to create pills of immortality. The process was brought with the Mongolians as they expanded their territory northward and westward. Russian vodka, made using this process, substitutes beets for cereals.

A set of Jin dynasty bronze distilling vessels was unearthed in Qinglong County, Hebei Province in 1975. Examination and testing confirmed that wine distillation already existed in China in the Shizong reign of the Jin dynasty.

Honoring gods

The ancient Greeks had Dionysus, the god of wine. The Chinese have never had a "god of wine," per se, but all Chinese gods imbibe and wine is always used in sacrificial rites.

"Wine enjoys a much higher position in China than it does in the West," explains Professor Kung. In China, all ceremonies require the use of wine. One part of the character for "wine" [∞s] makes up one half of li [?o], a Chinese character for "ceremony." The Chinese term for chieftain [≠(c)(tm)‾] literally means "the one in charge of wine." Wine vessels made up a large portion of the ceremonial vessels used from the Shang Dynasty on and came in dozens of shapes and sizes, such as the zun, hu, jiao, jue, and you.

The ancients were particular about drinking etiquette.

Professor Tsen explains that the drinking etiquette of the ancients consisted of four parts-worship, sacrifice, sampling, and drinking. Drinkers first raised their drinks in salute. They then poured a bit onto the ground to thank mother earth. Then they sampled the wine and praised its aroma to delight the host. Finally, they guzzled it down.

The Chinese characters for the term "drinking" in the above list are the equivalent of today's "bottoms up." It would seem tossing one's drink back was a sign of respect back then very much as it is now. The only difference is that nowadays downing your drink before your drinking partner shows respect, while in ancient China, you deferred to your drinking partner by drinking after him. Tsen points out that the Book of Rites states that "younger individuals dare not drink until those older than them have finished their drinks."

It was also considered inappropriate to toast an individual more than three times. It is written in the Book of Rites: "When a person of noble character and integrity drinks in honor of another, one drink indicates solemn respect; two drinks show good manners and refinement of character; three drinks bring cheer and demonstrate a sense of propriety."

However, examples of unscrupulous individuals badgering others to drink also abound. According to Tsen, the Biography of the Wandering Man of Chivalry in the History of the Former Han speaks of a certain Chen Zun who enjoyed hosting grand parties. As soon as the festival hall was filled with guests, he ordered his servants to toss the guests' carriages into a well to prevent them from leaving. Another even more alarming example is recorded in the Biography of Wang Dun in the History of the Jin Dynasty. In the story, Wang Kai entertains Wang Dun and Wang Dao with a banquet and assigns beautiful women to sit beside them and pour wine. If a guest fails to empty his drink, the woman sitting next to him is to be killed. Despite an inability to drink a great deal, Wang Dao pushes himself to save the life of the woman sitting next to him. Wang Dun, on the other hand, intentionally does not drink, unmoved by the mournful weeping of the woman serving him and, later, her blood splashing in front of his drinking vessel. Wang Dao reproaches him, but Wang Dun retorts, "What business is it of yours if he kills members of his own household?"

A sign of accomplishment

There has been a close relationship between wine and politics since time immemorial. The condition of a government could be determined by the pattern of imbibing among leaders and citizens.

Kung Peng-cheng explains that one form of praise of an emperor was to say that he was so dedicated that people could drink happily, intimating that his rule has brought peace and security to the nation.

In a well known anecdote from history, Xiang Yu sets a trap at the Hongmen Banquet to assassinate Liu Bang while the latter is drunk. In another story, Military Power Relinquished over a Cup of Wine, Emperor Zhao Kuangying asks generals to turn over their armies just as they are caught up in banquet revelry. In Cooking Green Plum Wine and Discussing Heroes, Cao Cao invites Liu Bei to a banquet to determine whether or not he has aspirations for the throne. Liu Bei, fearing a plot to kill him, artfully lays Cao Cao's suspicions to rest by dropping his chopsticks and jumping in fright at the sound of thunder, feigning drunkenness and a befuddled mind. Wine played a key role in all of these historical anecdotes.

China had advanced winemaking technology and produced a large variety of alcoholic beverages. In addition to using wine to bond human relationships and facilitate communication with spirits, the Chinese used it to maintain good health. It is said that wine improves the flow of qi and blood, protects the organs, keeps the skin in good health, warms and revitalizes the body, and assists in digestion.

Wine also plays a significant part in Chinese medicine. You could say that without wine, Chinese medicine, as we know it, would not exist. Kung Peng-cheng points out that in the past, wine was used to disinfect and make medicinal decoctions. It was an important ingredient in sesame chicken, a broth consumed by mothers undergoing month-long postpartum confinement to regain their health; there were also many medicinal wines used to preserve health.

Wine has many uses and offers endless distraction. After drinking wine for the first time, however, Da Yu feared that it would bring about future disaster. Throughout history, most Chinese dynasties maintained a "love-fear relationship" with wine that resulted in bans and heavy taxes.

Tsen discloses that dynasties throughout the ages put bans on winemaking following meager harvests. The chapter entitled Warnings Against Wine in the Book of History of the Zhou Dynasty cautions against drinking in excess except when offering sacrifices. During the Han Dynasty, it was forbidden to drink in groups. Xiao He ordered: "Anyone drinking in groups of three or more without just cause is to be fined four liang of gold." (A liang is equivalent to 50 grams.)

Confucius, China's greatest sage, was very liberal in his views towards imbibing, saying that it is fine to drink as long as you do not do so to the point where you act foolishly or recklessly.

Gods of wine, drunk officials

China's wine culture in ancient times revolved around the literati for the most part. Most of the better known drinkers were men of letters.

There were countless numbers of literati throughout China's history who loved to drink.

In his piece Eight Immortals Drinking, Du Fu describes the "eight gods of drink," including He Zhizhang, Li Shizhi, Li Bai, Zhang Xu, and Su Jin, and what they are like when they drink. He depicts Li Bai in this way: "After drinking a glass of wine, Li Bai writes a hundred poems. He falls asleep in a Chang'an tavern. He misses the boat when the emperor calls. He says of himself, 'I am a god of wine.'"

During the Western Jin Dynasty, the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a group which included Ruan Ji, Ji Kang, Liu Ling, and Wang Rong, liked to revel together under the towering bamboo. Liu Ling is famous for his verse In Praise of the Virtue of Wine which refutes the notion that wine is evil. "Heaven and earth see an age as a mere morning, mornings as mere minutes. With the sky as your blanket and the ground as your bed, you are freed from earthly restraints."

Two figures representative of China's wine lovers throughout history are Tao Yuanming of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Bai Juyi, who referred to himself as the "Drunken Official" after being demoted and assigned to Jiangzhou. Some men of letters could not hold their liquor, but still enjoyed drinking. Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty was not a big drinker, but still enjoyed tipping his cup. He came up with a wine that was "as weak as water," so that he could drink with others.

Poets drank to forget their troubles and wrote poetry to express their views. Sadness, whether brought on by death, loss, parting, or homesickness, was left by the wayside when one drank and recited poetry. References to wine are everywhere to be found in verse.

Bringing in the Wine

Bringing in the Wine, written by Li Bai, one of the "immortals of wine," is a classic example:

"Oh, let a man of spirit venture where he pleases/ And never tip his golden cup empty toward the moon/ Since heaven gave the talent, there must be some way that it can be employed/ A thousand pieces of silver scattered, all of them come back eventually/ Cook a sheep, kill a cow, whet the appetite/ And make me, of three hundred bowls, one long drink!

"To the old master, Chen, and the young scholar, Danqiu, bring in the wine/ Let your cups never rest! Let me sing you a song! Let your ears attend!/ What are bell and drum, rare dishes and treasure?/ Let me be forever drunk and never come to reason!/ Sober men of olden days and sages are forgotten/ And only the great drinkers are famous for all time.

"Prince Chen constantly held big banquets/ With much drinking, and many a laugh and quip/ Why say, my host, that your money is gone?/ Go and buy wine and we'll drink it together!/ My flower-dappled horse, my furs worth a thousand, hand them to the boy to exchange for good wine/ And we'll drown away the woes of ten thousand generations!"

The literati were very particular about the manner in which they drank, so that rules of propriety formed over time. When individuals of refined taste imbibed, they did so as they sang and recited spontaneous verse in antiphonal style. To maintain order as they drank, they established drinking rules.

The rules defined an interesting folk literary style, consisting of verse in formal or colloquial language that was either recited or sung. The Dream of the Red Chamber, a classic from Chinese literature, has many examples of such verse in it that appeal to both refined and popular tastes. In chapter 28, for example, Jia Baoyu and others feel that simply drinking to get drunk is dull, so they start a round of verse. Players are charged with using the characters for sadness, distraught, contented, and happiness to describe women in their verses. Jia Baoyu says, "The woman is sad as she spends her youth waiting by an empty pillow. The woman is distraught and regrets encouraging her husband to seek office [as he is too busy to spend time with her]. The woman is contented, admiring her beauty as she grooms herself in the mirror in the morning. The woman is happy, sitting on a swing wearing a light spring dress."

The drinking habits of the middle and lower classes differed greatly from those of the upper class. Kung Peng-chang explains that the Outlaws of the Marsh, another classic from Chinese literature, depicts the drinking customs of the lower classes. Their drinking customs were not as elaborate as those of the sophisticated literati. They drank, rather, to relax, to let their hair down. Individuals who could hold their liquor were highly respected. Friends were chosen on the basis of how much they could drink.

A panacea

An overview of the history of drinking in China reveals that the upper-class literati drank for two main reasons, to socialize and show off their talent and learning, while the lower classes drank to bond. The exalted literati class no longer exists and, as a result, the uncultivated drinking customs of the lower class have become the norm for society as a whole.

Kung points out: "The lower classes' bonding through drinking has combined with the wine-guzzling traditions of military men to create Taiwan's present chug-a-lug drinking culture." Taiwan's middle class has thrived in recent years, but it has forgotten China's traditions. As a result, the West's red wine culture has been grafted onto the culture of Taiwan. Taiwanese are attempting to mimic the upper-class sophistication of the West, but they do not truly understand the West's wine, including its place in history and literature and references to it. They simply make a big production out of the year it was produced, its flavor, and its price.

When we look at how China's drinking culture, which developed over thousands of years, has deteriorated to the point where all that remains is wine guzzling, you cannot help but sigh, realizing that we have neglected the traditions of our ancestors. You find yourself longing to follow Li Bai:

"Bring in the wine!/ Let your cups never rest!/ And we'll drown away the woes of ten thousand generations!"

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Good wine has since ancient times been the boon companion of fine cuisine, as illustrated in this painting from the Five Dynasties era (907-960 AD). Below the painting is a picture of drinking paraphernalia from the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368).

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This vessel, decorated with bird images, was made during the early Western Zhou dynasty (11th century-711 BC).

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(left) A bronze "four rams" square wine vessel from the late Shang dynasty (16th-11th century BC).

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(right) A cloisonne cup from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).

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The Eight Immortals imbibing.