HTM421
Essay#2

2011/10/31

Wine culture at table in China

Wine culture play an important role in daily life, and its special function is so unique that nothing can take the place of it. Chinese wine culture enjoys a high reputation in the world. In this paper I want to do some research on the types of wine, the utensils of drinking, the ways people drink, the reasons why people drink wine and the function of wine culture at table in China. As a matter of fact, the term of wine culture was first put forward by Guangyuan Yu, a renowned economist professor in China (Li D, Hui Y, 2005). Wine culture was gradually formed after wine appeared, but nobody defined it clearly and completely for a long time. Until 1944, Jiacheng Xiao said that wine culture was the integration of material, technical, spiritual, custom, psychological and behavior phenomena which generated around the center – wine (Li D, Hui Y, 2005). The wine culture at table has two sides of contents. On the one hand, it involves the content that is about the production of wine; on the other hand, it consists of the content that is about drinking wine.

The types of wine in China China is located the east of Asia, which has extensive plain, fertile soil and warm climate, so it is fit for developing agriculture. Long time ago, people began developing agriculture. They planted some crops in their fertile soil of the land every year, and the crops such as grain, rice, wheat, sorghum, millet, barley etc. always gave a high yield. It was from then on that people have been using them to make all types of alcoholic beverages. Today, China is also famous for its masterly technology of making wine. Chinese wine that people usually drink at table can be generally classified into white liquor (Bai Jiu) and yellow liquor (Huang Jiu). White liquor is also called “Shao Jiu”; the English name is “ hot liquor” or “burned liquor”. It belongs to the distilled liquor, which contains more than 30% alcohol. The liquor is made from grains, such as wheat, corn, sorghum etc. The most representative liquor is Wu Liang Ye, which is brewed with choice grains including sorghum, glutinous rice, rice, wheat and corn. In China, there are a great many varieties of white wine, and most of them are famous at home and abroad, such as Moutai, Xi Feng, Lu Zhou Lao Jiao Te Qu, Jian Nan Chun, Dong Jiu, Gu Jing Gong Liquor and etc. They are characterized by “ lasting aroma, mellow and luscious taste, harmonious and just-right flavor” (http://www.wuliangye.com.cn/en/pages/index.xml). They are the eminent liquors among Chinese liquors, and have ever gained the international gold prize for many times. Yellow liquor is traditional Chinese strong alcoholic drink, which has a long history. It is fermented directly from rice, glutinous rice, millet etc., whose content of alcoholic varies from 12% to 18%. It can be sub classified into three types according to the technology of making. They are Jiang Nan Glutinous Rice Yellow Liquor, Fujian Glutinous Rice Yellow Liquor and Shandong Millet Yellow Liquor (Changxing Z, 2005). Most of yellow liquor were pasteurized, aged and filtered before their bottling for sale, so they are very clean. White liquor and yellow liquor are made from grains. They look clean and transparent, taste sweet, mellow and refreshing, smell very aromatic, but yellow liquor is different from white liquor. It can be used for traditional Chinese medicine and cooking (Li D, Hui Y, 2005), although white liquor does not have this special function.

Chinese drinking utensils – tumblers In modern times, Chinese people are used to drinking wine in tumblers. The tumblers are made of glass. They look very exquisite, brilliant and beautiful. Tumblers are used widely in daily life, not only because they are cheap, but also the sizes, colors and shapes are various. People have more chance to choose their own drinking utensils that they like most, thus tumblers are very popular in China.

The ways of pouring wine in China In China, people like filling others’ drinking utensils when they are drinking. That is because filling people’s wineglasses means respect. At table, a host usually pours wine for every guest firstly. Young people should pour wine for old people actively, but old people do not need to do so. Meanwhile, people should pay attention to the time of pouring wine. Usually, it is not the right time to pour wine for others, when they are drinking, eating or picking up food. Usually it is the best time to pour wine when people have drunk up their wine in wineglasses.

The ways of toasting in China People have a habit with themselves to toast the most important guest or the main guest firstly, then to toast other guests. After that, guests also should toast the host and hostess, then to toast other guests. At last, guests toast each other. Besides that young people could toast the old first, then toast young people. Toasting always has brief and polite toasting words. Chinese toasting words are generally people’s good wishes, which are from the heart of people. Consequently, people get used to drinking up their wine in the glass to express their wishes and respect. At the same time, the people who are toasted would try their best to drink up their wine to accept the wishes and respect.

The ways of drinking in China It is widely known that Chinese people like drinking, and how they drink are various and interesting. On some formal banquet, they usually drink politely and elegantly. They also get used to drinking wine slowly. Chinese people are so warm-hearted and hospitable that they always urge some to drink wine. However, it is impolite to urge someone to drink wine at the formal social places. Consequently, under this situation, they have no habituated themselves to urge someone to drink wine. Moreover, on the informal banquet, family feast or some party, people may drink casually. They would like to urge someone to drink wine. For example, they often say,” If we are good friends, them bottom up; if not, then just take a sip” (2008) to make other people drink. Besides that, they get used to playing drinkers’ games at table. There are three games they can play. The first one is drinking and telling stories. The second game is drinking and playing the finger guessing. The third one is drinking and shouting at “tiger, stick, chicken, and pest”. These drinker’s games are not only the catalyst of happiness at table, but also the quintessence of Chinese wine culture. They can activate the atmosphere of table and promote the development of people’s friendship.

The reason why Chinese people drink In China, Yangxiu Ou had said that” the Old Trippler’s delight does not reside in wine – have other things in mind (Ruiwen Z, 2006) This sentence generally summarizes the purpose of drinking of many Chinese people. Although Xiaoshen Gao said that wine could help people produce beauty (Naiji Y, 2004), Chinese people just regard it as a tool which can help us get rid of sorrows. Specifically speaking, there are three kinds of reason why people drink. First of all, in China, there is an old saying “people have joys and sorrows, partings and reunions – vicissitudes of life” (Shouguo W, Shaosheng W, 2006). In daily life, people can not avoid many bad things from family affair,work, and study etc. Although everyone has their own ways to deal with their sorrows, most of Chinese people would like to drink to get rid of their sorrows, because what they are thinking is “who can take sorrow away? Just Du Kang” (Guodong D, 2006) Secondly, many people like expressing their emotion using wine, because most of them are too reserved to express their emotion each other when they are conscious. However, if they drink a little wine, they can bravely express their emotion to their parents, friends, wives and husbands, children and so on. Then wine is the catalyst of people’s emotion.
Thirdly, dinking in order to be happier. Wine the necessaries of the table. Chinese people like drinking wine when they have dinner with their friends. They also drink on wedding party, birthday party, celebration party and the important festival. This is because they want to activate the atmosphere of the table by drinking wine. In their opinion, they can be happy while they are drinking.

The function of wine culture at table in China In China, wine culture is becoming more and more important because people can deal with many problems in life by drinking at table. For example, Chinese government usually holds some high-end banquet for emissaries who are from other countries to promote friendly relationship. In daily life, people who are used to dealing with problems of business on table. They often invite some people who are their business partners to have dinner, and they usually drink wine. Then while they are drinking, their relationships become closer than before. Meanwhile, they can get more chance to cooperate with others on business. The function of Chinese wine culture at table effectively illustrates a truth – win culture at table is from life and reflects life, but its final goal is to serve life and to help people solve problems in life.

REFERENCES
Li, D., Hui, Y. (2005). Chinese food culture.
Changxing, Z. (2005). Wine culture.
(2008) Something about Chinese wine culture.
Ruiwen, Z. (2006). Chinese wine culture and idiom.
Naiji, Y. (1994). Comparison of Chinese and western wine culture. Journal of Beijing University (4)
Shouguo, W., Shaosheng W. (2006). Wine culture and spirit of arts.
Guodong, D. (2006) Saying Drinking