During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, due to the use of iron tools, production technology was greatly improved. Farmers "went out early and returned home late, improved their farming and arboriculture, and married more bean sprouts." The enthusiasm for production increased. Productivity has been greatly developed and material wealth has been greatly increased. This provided a material basis for the further development of wine. Therefore, there are many records of wine in the documents of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period:
The Analects of Confucius: "Wine and food precede food, which was considered filial piety."
"The Book of Songs·Youfeng July": "The rice harvested in October is the spring wine to celebrate the longevity of the eyebrows"
"The Book of Songs·Xiaoya Jiri": "To welcome guests and with "Li, a type of wine, is a sweet wine.
"Book of Rites·Yue Ling": "In the month of Mengxia, the emperor drank wine with ritual music." Wine, a re-brewed wine, is drunk with music, which means wine drunk at a grand party.
"Book of Rites·Tamazao": "Every respectable person must respect Yuanjiu. Only the king is respected, and barbarians are all wine. The official uses wood to respect the side, and the scholar uses the ban." Shang Yuanjiu, with the The meaning of nostalgia is the wine that you drink exclusively. In the Spring and Autumn Period, there were Chinese people and savages. The savages referred to the ordinary people. Treating barbarians to wine means giving them ordinary meals and ordinary wine. Muyu and ban are the levels of wine glasses.
From the Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, especially the northern nomadic peoples, their wine vessels were mainly bronze products. The brewing technology has been significantly improved, and the quality of the wine has also been greatly improved. The method of drinking is: put the brewed wine in a bronze pot, scoop it with a bronze spoon, and put it into a bronze cup. drink. With the economic prosperity of the Qin Dynasty, the brewing industry naturally also prospered. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the "drinking culture" emerged. The rulers repeatedly banned alcohol from the perspective of "politics" and advocated abstinence to reduce the consumption of grains. In the end, the ban continued. During the Han Dynasty, the understanding of wine was further broadened and the uses of wine were widely expanded. Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor in the Eastern Han Dynasty, used wine to treat diseases at a very high level. Reconciling human relations, flattering gods and worshiping ancestors are the basic functions of wine culture in the Han Dynasty. Putting music first is the spiritual core of Han people’s wine culture. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the color of "etiquette" in the wine culture became more and more intense, and the wine etiquette was strict. In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the wine culture changed from one based on happiness to one based on sadness.
During the Han Dynasty, drinking was gradually associated with various festivals, forming a unique drinking day, and there were more types of wine koji. In the drinking ceremony of the Han Dynasty, people usually sat on the floor to drink, with the wine bottle placed in the middle of the floor, a spoon for drinking wine inside, and the drinking utensils also placed on the ground, so the body shape was shorter and fatter. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, abstinence from alcohol was advocated. It was not until the Wei and Jin Dynasties that alcohol had legal status. The alcohol ban was lifted, allowing people to make wine freely. The phenomenon of private brewing and drinking was quite common. The alcohol market was very prosperous, and alcohol taxes appeared. Alcohol taxes became It is one of the country's financial resources, so there is a "wine wealth culture". During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, drinking among celebrities was very popular. With the help of wine, people expressed their feelings about life, their worries about society, and their laments about history. The role of wine has penetrated into people's hearts, thus the cultural connotation of wine has also expanded.
Drinking in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, during this period, sitting on the bed became popular, and the drinking utensils became more slender. In addition, the custom of "winding water drinking glasses" appeared in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, which pushed the wine way forward. step. The wine culture of the Tang and Song Dynasties was a great connection between wine and literati. The prosperity of poetry in the Tang Dynasty promoted wine culture, and a brilliant "wine chapter culture" emerged. Wine and poetry, wine and music, wine and calligraphy, wine and art, wine and painting, etc., blended and flourished. . The Tang Dynasty was a highly developed period of Chinese wine culture. The wine culture of the Tang Dynasty was profound, colorful and brilliant. "Wine promotes poetry" is the most condensed and highest expression of Tang Dynasty culture. Wine promotes poets' poetry, which is internalized in their poems. Wine also rises from the material level to the spiritual level. Wine culture is brewed in Tang poetry. Full, long-lasting taste. In the Tang Dynasty, the number of wine shops increased day by day, wine order wars became popular, and wine culture was integrated into the daily life of the Chinese people.
The people of the Tang Dynasty believed that "good wine should be served in expensive utensils". In the way of wine, most of the drinking is after a meal (eating). As the saying goes, "after eating, you will drink wine", "after eating, you will drink", "cooking chicken and setting food, after eating, you will be ready to drink wine". The way of drinking at that time was to drink after eating, drink slowly and happily, so that you would not get drunk easily, and you could get more fun of gathering and having fun through drinking.
In the Ming Dynasty, uprisings continued and the Qing Dynasty failed to resist foreign invasion. People moved around to avoid trouble. The formation of regional culture promoted the emergence of "wine culture". After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, wine has become an indispensable drink in people's lives. During festive seasons, "special wine" is very popular, such as drinking pepper wine on New Year's Day, drinking Cangcang wine on the 15th day of the first lunar month, drinking calamus wine on Dragon Boat Festival, and drinking on Mid-Autumn Festival. Osmanthus wine and chrysanthemum wine on Double Ninth Festival. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a saying that "the capital is the best place for wine." At that time, the dignitaries in the capital preferred rice wine, while the middle and lower classes preferred the cheap and strong shochu.
The Ming and Qing dynasties can be said to be another peak in the way of wine drinking in China. Drinking pays special attention to the word "Chen", and Chen is the surname of wine. "The old wine is the best, the older it is." The better." In addition, the way of wine has promoted the realm of self-cultivation. There are many kinds of wine orders, including all things, people, flowers, plants, fish and insects, poems and songs, opera novels, seasonal customs in the world, and there are many elegant orders. The elegant palace has been promoted to the common people, and the actions of celebrities and elegant people have become the hobbies of the people in the streets. Elevate ordinary drinking to a noble realm of talking about wine products, respecting drinking utensils, practicing drinking orders, and understanding the way of drinking. Today, the core of wine culture is "wine culture". People's drinking behavior is more common, wine is more closely related to people's destiny, wine has been widely integrated into people's lives, and the wine culture close to "life" has been enriched and developed unprecedentedly. Such as birthday banquets, wedding banquets, funeral banquets, etc., as well as related wine customs and etiquette, have become an important part of life.
In March 2013, foreign media ranked the top ten countries in the world that drink the most. The UK ranked first, and China ranked second.
However, China’s liquor culture is actually a kind of social culture. When dealing with Chinese people, no matter what the occasion, real drinking, even at the formal level, needs to express spiritual content - guests come from afar, and without wine, it is not enough to express deep affection; on good days and on festive occasions, No wine is not enough to show happiness and comfort; no wine is not enough to make one sad and heartbroken on the anniversary of a funeral; no wine is not enough to eliminate loneliness and sorrow when you are wasted and trapped; no wine is not enough to express your pride and ambition in the spring breeze.
There are also jokes like this on the Internet describing what major Chinese wine companies are selling at the moment: Moutai sells "expensive"; Wuliangye sells "zun"; Jiannanchun sells "hi"; Guojiao 1573 sells "history" "; Langjiu sells "red"; Shuijingfang sells "noble"; Yanghe sells "feelings"; Jinliufu sells "blessing"; Dongjiu sells "mi"; Gujing Gongjiu sells "vintage"; Luzhou Laojiao sells "old" ; Jiugui wine is sold as "drunk"; Fenjiu is sold as "collected". These are conceptual words that are produced in response to the drinking needs of contemporary Chinese people.
In general, with the changes of the times, China’s drinking culture has gradually evolved into China’s unique political culture, China’s unique human relationship culture, China’s commercial power rent-seeking culture, and China’s unique public relations Dinner culture.