Culture on the Ancient Wine Table: Why do people in China like to drink?

According to "Shangshu Jiuju", during the Zhou Dynasty, the whole country was only allowed to drink alcohol during sacrifices, and it was not allowed to get drunk, otherwise it would be considered immoral.

Not only can you not drink often, but you are also very strict about brewing. If a group of people are caught drinking together, they should be arrested and killed.

But why in the later dynasties, not only the common people got together to drink, but also the ministers of the emperor had drinks?

All this stems from the wildness of the Han people.

▼

1

Drinking alcohol has nothing to do with the county.

Three or four thousand years ago, Xia Jie and Shang Zhou were very fond of drinking, and eventually they both killed their country (Xia and Shang).

Xia Jie, the last emperor of Xia Dynasty, was brilliant in both civil and military skills, but he was addicted to wine. He even had a super-large pool built to hold wine, which was called the "Night Palace". As a result, the people deserted and the Xia Dynasty perished. Zhou Wang, the last emperor of Shang Dynasty, was brilliant and made great efforts to revitalize Shang Dynasty. Later, he was addicted to alcohol and conceited, and built a wine pool meat forest. As a result, he set himself on fire and died, and the Shang Dynasty also perished.

Xia Jie and Shang Zhou indulged in debauchery and eventually died.

Therefore, the Zhou Dynasty believed that alcohol was the root of national subjugation, and ordered that alcohol was not allowed as soon as the People's Republic of China was founded. Although it finally perished, it took 800+ years, longer than Xia and Shang dynasties.

From this point of view, it seems that really drinking means national subjugation, at least not drinking will lead to a long life.

Although alcohol was banned in the Han Dynasty at first, it was all a face-saving project. In fact, they drank more than anyone else.

As prime minister, Cao Can not only drinks by himself all day, but also invites others to drink with him every day. Shortly after Emperor Jing of Han ordered the prohibition of alcohol, he ordered people to drink, and Emperor Cheng of Han even indulged in debauchery.

Brewing map of Han Dynasty stone reliefs in Mi County, Henan Province. The pots and pans above are all used for filtering wine, making wine and filling wine.

The founding emperor still couldn't insist on the prohibition, and the minister and the following people even indulged.

Courtesy meeting, no wine. -"Hanshu Shihuozhi"

Under the leadership of the emperor, all people in the Han Dynasty loved drinking. Even after the death of King Zhongshan, 5000+ kg of wine was put into the tomb. After Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun eloped, they all went to sell wine.

Zhuo Wenjun sells wine as a pawn.

So indulge in drinking, are Han people really not afraid of national subjugation?

The answer is no.

Because they don't believe it.

The founding fathers of the Han Dynasty, such as Liu Bang, Fan Kuai and Cao Can, were all Chu people, but the Western Han Dynasty was only 265,438+0 years away from Chu, so Chu people still maintained their original customs and liked drinking very much.

* The Eastern Zhou Dynasty is divided into the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The picture above shows the situation during the Warring States Period. Compared with the Central Plains, Chu is in the far south.

Xia, Shang and Zhou belong to the Central Plains, and Chu is in the south, which is a barbarian land, not controlled by the word Zhou Tian, and refuses to obey the etiquette of Zhou Dynasty.

Moreover, Chu people like drinking so much that they finally died because of foreign invasion.

So when it comes to drinking, the Han people are very indulgent.

The result of this indulgence is prosperity.

Portrait of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty

Not only did the Han dynasty not perish because of drinking, but it was also super awesome, and its territory was three times larger than before.

* With the addition of ethnic minorities, the land area cannot be counted by Italian sons.

This directly changed people's concept of drinking and subjugating the country, and the emperor turned a blind eye: drinking can't subjugate the country anyway!

Wine is essential for a banquet. The picture above is part of Han Xizai's banquet.

The awe-inspiring national strength, culture and figures of the Han Dynasty made the later generations very envious and took it as an example.

So later dynasties followed suit and everyone was happy: if the national strength was not enough, they drank to make up for it.

No, no,no. I really can't drink any more ~

Therefore, later dynasties always drank with confidence, because drinking did not mean national subjugation.

2

Celebrity effect, celebrity influence.

To eliminate the worries of the country, drinking also needs all kinds of praise from scholars to spread through the ages.

Chen Hongshou's Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest

The style of good wine in Han Dynasty directly influenced the character of Wei and Jin Dynasties, and some even associated drinking with reading Li Sao and becoming a celebrity.

Celebrities don't need wizards, but they can be called celebrities if they often have nothing to do, drink and read Li Sao. -"Shi Shuo Xin Yu"

And Cao Cao and Cao Zhi's father and son are more like the first love of wine:

Warriors, drink this bowl of wine with me!

Calling for Song one after another, how many days do we have? -Cao Cao's "Short Songs" is a boudoir wine, and he is happy. -Cao Zhi's "When the wall is high"

Xie Lingyun, Wang Xizhi, and the Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest are even more idle, not drunk and not returning.

During the Cold Food Festival, everyone puts glasses and drinks by the river, which is called Quyi. Above, everyone is playing this drinking game.

Wang Xizhi's first running script, Preface to Lanting Collection, even wrote the scene of their gathering and drinking.

Wang Xizhi's works copied by later generations of Preface to Lanting Collection

There are no celebrities in Wei and Jin dynasties who don't like drinking. It can be said that without wine, there would be no romantic life in Wei and Jin Dynasties.

This romantic style in Wei, Jin and Ming Dynasties became a celebrity effect, which made the literati in Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties very envious.

* "Eight Immortals Drinking", in which Li Bai and others wrote poems while drinking, is quite natural and unrestrained, and quite romantic in Wei and Jin dynasties with seven sages of bamboo forest.

In this way, drinking has become an elegant thing and has been welcomed by the whole people.

So Li Bai followed, bringing more than ten thousand poems:

Lanling wine tulips, jade bowls filled with amber light. -"Guest Work" Oh, let a man with spirit take risks where he likes, and never point his golden cup at the moon empty! . -"will enter the wine"

Then Su Shi. Although I don't drink often, I like drinking and watching others drink. He looks drunk, too

Poets love wine as long as they are thirsty, and the bottle is exhausted. -"The Rhyme of Liu Ziyu's Love for Snow" still tells the story of ancient times. "When the bright moon, candlestick and wine. -"Water Regulation"

The joining of the bosses has increased the pressure of drinking by n times per minute, and people are all taller. Therefore, all dynasties, from emperors to princes to ordinary people, like drinking very much.

three

Yin-yang concept and Yin-yang principle

However, at the beginning, people drank alcohol, but not because of the feelings of home and country and the celebrity effect, but because wine was pure yang, which could benefit qi and preserve health.

Ancient wine was mainly brewed from grains (such as wheat and rice). Grains grow from the land and absorb the nutrients of the land. In the eyes of the ancients, this is "gathering the aura of heaven and earth and absorbing the essence of the sun and the moon."

Yin and Yutu

In the traditional concept of "Yin and Yang", the land is alive and can breed all things, so the land and the grain grown from the soil belong to "Yang".

The ancients paid attention to nourishing qi, especially their own "Yang Qi". If a person's yang is exhausted, then life will end with him.

And wine, extracted from the essence of grains, is the yang in the yang, and it is a pure yang thing, benefiting qi and keeping in good health.

Moreover, after drinking wine, the whole body will get hot, so the ancients believed that wine is pure yang and beneficial to health.

▼

The change of people's attitude towards drinking actually includes the change of people's concept. The change of this concept is also reflected in the change of people's drinking utensils.

3000 years ago, the Zhou Dynasty had come up with a complete set of wine gifts, which specified in detail what wine vessels to use on what occasions, and each wine vessel had its own purpose.

For example, the common Jue is mainly used as a ritual vessel for emperors to sacrifice.

noble

Pots are used to hold wine.

Lotus crane square pot

Spoons are used to scoop wine.

Bird-shaped spoon in the early Warring States Period of Zhou Dynasty

However, after the Zhou Dynasty, the Han Dynasty paid less attention to it, and simply replaced such a complicated and exquisite wine vessel with a lacquer cup.

Han Dynasty wine boxes and lacquer cups unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was even more casual, and even the cups and lamps used for drinking tea could be used for drinking.

Three glasses and two glasses of wine, how can you beat him? It's late in the wind. -Li Qingzhao's Slow Voice

Song Yingqing Lotus Cup

In the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, even the bowls for eating were used. It can be said that anything that can hold water can be used for drinking, and some people even use flowers, leaf skins and fruit shells to hold wine directly as wine glasses:

lotus leaf cup

Pick the best lotus leaf to make a cup for holding wine, pierce the petiole with a hairpin, and use the handle as a straw to drink the wine contained in the lotus leaf. This drinking method is called "Bitong Drink", and the glass is a lotus leaf cup.

Jieyubei

Fold off the blooming lotus, put the wine in a small gold vase (ZH:ι), let Ge Ji hold it, and then hold it to separate the petals to drink. Lotus is also called rain flower, so the lotus with a golden flower is the rain cup.

Xiangyuanbei

Xiangyuan is a kind of sour fruit, similar to grapefruit today, but rectangular. A fragrant round cup is a cup that is directly hollowed out to hold wine. Exquisite and elegant, above the golden jade.

Pretend to have a fragrant ring in your hand.

Soft gold cup

Soft gold actually describes oranges, and soft gold cups are oranges hollowed out to hold wine.

▼

In this way, people's attitude towards drinking is really tortuous:

From the beginning, he paid attention to etiquette and thought that drinking was chaotic; Later, I felt that drinking was generous, like Cao Cao and Ruan Ji; In the Tang Dynasty, everyone thought that drinking was a romantic thing, which was associated with poetry. When drinking in Song Dynasty, they preferred to drink alone. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, drinking is a common thing until now. Drink if you want, there is no need to make a fuss.

Along the way, the status of drinking in people's minds is constantly changing, and in the final analysis, this change is actually:

People look down on the external form of drinking more and more, put down the additional meaning of drinking, and focus on drinking itself, pay attention to the inner feelings when drinking, get close to their own hearts, and get temporary comfort and relief.

I have to say that this step, we are getting closer and closer to our hearts. It is best to look down on the outside, put down fame and fortune, and only value our inner feelings.