What is the origin of Chinese wine table culture?

China's wine table culture is unique to China. History is almost as long as human history, and China people mastered brewing technology long before Chinese characters matured. There are records about wine and drinking culture in many ancient books. Wine culture is deeply rooted in the blood of China people and has a far-reaching influence. There are more than 20 references to wine in The Book of Songs, and wine is endowed with the meanings of etiquette, sociality and leisure, which embodies the specific patriarchal order and human relations.

There are also many ancient books devoted to the study of wine, such as Jiugu in the Western Zhou Dynasty, Jiufu Jiuzhen in the Western Han Dynasty, Jiujie in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Jiujing Jiupu in the early Tang Dynasty and so on. It can be seen that wine has long been an important element of China culture.

In fact, in ancient times, for a long time, China's wine table culture had nothing to do with food culture. China's early wine table culture is a part of political culture, closely combined with ceremonies such as sacrifices and celebrations, and belongs to the upper culture of the royal family and those in power. The scarcity and mystery of wine are dotted with various ceremonies, and the legitimacy of political rule is interpreted with solemn and grand scenes.

Under the centralized monarchy, the power is highly concentrated, and the party who gets the power is extremely afraid of losing it. Therefore, in order to maintain the legitimacy and sanctity of his position, he has compiled various ceremonies and held various activities.

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China's wine-persuading culture

As old as Chinese wine table culture is the culture of persuading wine. The catering in ancient China played an extremely important social function, so it was delayed for a long time. Banquets in the Tang Dynasty generally began in the morning and lasted until dusk, not less than seven or eight hours. During the Qing Dynasty, many public banquets even lasted for three to five days, which were both social activities and political activities.

In the whole banquet, besides dancing and singing, it is wine. China's early ethos of persuading wine originated from various enduring banquets. Eating a meal for such a long time will inevitably dry up the topic, and drinking will be boring, so various persuasion techniques have been invented.

Strictly speaking, persuading wine comes from toasting, which is an old custom left over from the patriarchal society. Toast is divided into social classes. I respect the monarch, my son respects my father, my brother respects my brother, my subordinates respect their superiors, and my younger generation respects their elders. Toast is first of all a bottom-up interaction, which is relatively non-mandatory. But the interaction between up and down can be called a kind of reward, and it can also be called an active respect, which is extremely mandatory.

Most of the earliest toasts came from top-down toasts. Especially in the transition from China to China, this kind of ethics has gradually become a political coercive force. In the history of China, there are countless cases of forced surrender in the political context, some of which are interesting, but some are extremely cruel and creepy.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Chinese wine table culture