Chinese wine table culture is unique to China. The history is almost as old as the history of people, long before the Chinese characters matured, the Chinese people have mastered the technology of brewing wine. Many canonical texts contain records about wine and drinking culture, and the culture of wine has penetrated deep into the bloodline of the Chinese people, with far-reaching influence. There are more than 20 references to wine in the Shi Jing, and wine was given meanings of etiquette, socialization, and leisure, reflecting a specific patriarchal order as well as human relationships.

There are also many books dedicated to wine, such as the Western Zhou's "Wine Grant", the Western Han's "Wine Fugue", "Wine Proverbs", the Eastern Jin's "Wine Commandments", and the Early Tang's "Wine Scriptures", "Wine Spectrum", etc. It can be seen that wine has long been a part of China's culture, and has become an important part of the Chinese culture. It can be seen that wine has long been an important element of Chinese culture.

In fact, in ancient times, for a long time, Chinese wine table culture had nothing to do with food culture. Early Chinese table culture was part of political culture, closely integrated with rituals such as sacrifices and celebrations, and was an upper-class culture belonging to the royal family and those in power. The scarcity and mystery of wine embellished various rituals and interpreted the legitimacy of political rule in solemn and grandiose scenes.

Under a centralized monarchy, power is highly concentrated, and the party that gets the power is extremely afraid of losing it, so it compiles all kinds of rituals and organizes all kinds of activities in order to maintain the orthodoxy and sanctity of its position.

Expanded Information

China's Culture of Drinking Persuasion

As old as China's drinking culture is the culture of drinking persuasion. Dining in ancient China took on an extremely important social function, so the delay was longer. Tang Dynasty banquets generally began in the morning and lasted until dusk, counting no less than seven or eight hours. During the Qing Dynasty, many public bill banquet even lasted three or five days, these are both social and political activities.

Throughout the banqueting activities, in addition to silk and bamboo songs and dances, is the wine. In early China, the culture of persuading people to drink alcohol originated in banquets that lasted a long time. When a meal lasted so long, the conversation was bound to dry up, and it was boring to drink, so various techniques were invented to persuade people to drink.

Strictly speaking, the persuasion of alcohol originated from the toast, and the toast is the old custom left over from the patriarchal society. Toasts are distinguished by social hierarchies, with ministers honoring their kings, sons honoring their fathers, brothers honoring their brothers, subordinates honoring their superiors, and juniors honoring their elders. Toasting is first and foremost a lower-to-superior interaction, and is relatively non-compulsory. But, the interaction of the top to the bottom, which can be called a return toast or an active toast, becomes extremely mandatory.

Most of the earliest exhortations to drink came from top-to-bottom toasts. Especially in the transition from family to state, this ethic slowly turned into political coercion. There have been countless cases of coercive drinking in political contexts throughout Chinese history, some of which are wonderfully funny, but many of which are exceptionally cruel and creepy.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Chinese Drinking Table Culture