I call myself a wine immortal - the pleasure of drinking the three kinds of wine｜Xie Mian
2024-08-07
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Stills from the animated film "30,000 Miles of Chang'an" (2023)
Wine, tea, and coffee are three kinds of drinks, each with its own fun, and wine is the best. Wine is fun, and its fun runs through the whole process of drinking, the first appointment, toasting. Greeting each other, and then, between the cups, the affection is lingering, and the most beautiful is the season of being slightly tipsy, between being drunk and not drunk, with blurred eyes, witty words, old friends and new friends, regardless of gender and age, all innocent and lovely. I am not fond of wine, nor am I good at drinking. In the early years, when friends gathered, I just tasted it when I was interested. I remember that year, when I first visited Shaoxing, the host invited me to a banquet at Xianheng Restaurant, because this place was the place where Mr. Kong Yiji drank and ate fennel beans. I forgot about it for a while and drank a pot of Shaoxing wine with a beer glass. My companions were amazed and praised me. Encouraged, I uttered wild words, saying: Is there anything more important in the world than drinking? This is a bit like the drunkard's talk, drunk, talk big!
Many of my students can drink a lot. The most famous one is Lao Meng (i.e. Meng Fanhua). In fact, Lao Meng can't drink much, but he forgets himself and gets drunk, and even forgets his home, which makes people laugh. I have written about Lao Meng's "bad deeds" after drinking, and I can describe them in one sentence, that is, "either he was beaten by someone, or he beat someone else." I think it is "vivid". We have published a "monograph" for him, namely "Lao Meng's Drinking Stories". The book has sold very well and is now sold out. We are planning to publish a sequel, but that's another story.
Wine plays an extremely important role in Chinese culture. Generally speaking, if a good article is good, the poem is usually good, and if the poem is good, the wine must be good. This is the so-called romantic style of poetry and wine. Li Bai's good poems are mostly attributed to his good drinking. He almost never wrote a poem without wine, and he always wrote a poem after drinking wine. He is known as the immortal poet and the immortal wine drinker. Among his poems about wine, the most famous one is "Song of the Wine": "Since ancient times, all saints and sages have been lonely, only drinkers have left their names", "Five-colored horses, furs worth thousands of gold, call the children to go out and exchange for good wine, and share the eternal sorrow with you". Wine can be compared to saints and sages, and wine can prolong life and even immortality. He pushed the value of drinking to the extreme. But among his many drinking poems, the one I appreciate most is "Drinking with a Recluse in the Mountains": "Two people drink together, mountain flowers bloom, one cup after another. I am drunk and want to sleep, you can go, tomorrow I will bring a zither if you want." He was deeply drunk, his eyes were blurred, he forgot everything, and he looked naive. As for his close friend Du Fu, how much he could drink, it is unknown.
When we read Du Fu's poems, we write about separation and chaos, people's livelihood, displacement, misery, and emotions that move the world. But the more we read, the more we miss his occasionally joyful words. "Eight Poems of Autumn" is recognized as his most beautiful words about "leisure" and the pinnacle of Du Fu's poetry art. But we still don't know whether he is addicted to alcohol. We know from his "Song of the Eight Immortals Drinking" that he can write so vividly about the drunken state of his contemporaries on the streets of Chang'an, and we can conclude that he is at least a "high-level onlooker", and perhaps another immortal besides the Eight Immortals! My judgment is not groundless, as evidenced by the poem: "Singing in the daytime must indulge in wine, and youth is a good companion to return home." The good news from the front came, so he "indulged in wine" and started drinking! These discussions, of course, need to be examined by literary historians, and I don't have the final say.
Let's get back to the topic of wine fun. Chinese meals are usually seated around the table, with glasses clinking, finger-guessing, and laughter. It's not like Western meals where people sit upright, speak softly, and don't smile. Chinese banquets are always full of laughter and noise. I remember Mr. Hou Baolin's crosstalk in the last century, and everyone liked it. Once Mr. Hou performed a bickering between two drunkards. The two held flashlights and gestured to see who could climb up along the light. You climb! You climb! Mr. Hou gestured while talking, and the audience laughed and applauded continuously, but Mr. Hou himself didn't laugh. This part has become a classic of crosstalk and a memory we will always have. This page cannot be missed when talking about wine fun. At the Chinese wine table, regardless of age or even gender, everyone is treated equally. It's a bit vulgar, but also very interesting. I remember someone teased those drunkards, saying that they not only couldn't find the way home, but also urinated in front of their own refrigerators when they entered the door!
As I said before, I am not good at drinking, I only drink occasionally. When teachers and students gather together, or during the New Year holidays, we welcome guests with fine wine, and we are happy for a while, and I can't be happy without wine. But if you ask me what kind of wine I like, I usually won't answer. Just as everyone knows that I pay attention to food, if you ask me what kind of dishes I like, I won't answer. I have said before that I don't eat spicy food, I don't eat sour food, I stay away from pepper, and I avoid coriander. Those who can only appreciate one flavor are definitely not gourmets. By the same token, those who are only fond of one kind of wine are not good drinkers after all. Recently, I have been drinking a lot of wine, and I found that some people will only drink Maotai, claiming that only the sauce-flavored type is the best, and all others are excluded. I deeply regret this. I assert that this person is not someone who knows wine. Two years ago, I accidentally broke my bones while doing morning exercises, and I was recuperating at home. The living room became a hospital room, and I threw away many miscellaneous items, but I didn't throw away wine. The narrow corridor became my "izakaya". I don't discard any liquor, whether it's sauce-flavored or light-flavored, Chinese or foreign. I treasure them all. I have very few books, but a large collection of wine. I didn't make much progress in my studies, but I have a deep love for wine. I've almost become a wine collector.
As far as my personal habits are concerned, I prefer the atmosphere of Western food, which is elegant, restrained, and well-educated. At a Chinese banquet, I can laugh with others, but I lack the ability to talk and laugh freely, especially the ability to be humorous. I am a little self-conceited, and mostly a person who lacks fun. But it is true that the liveliness of Chinese food is lacking in Western food. To expand the topic, we might as well expand the cultural topic to different civilizations. Culture or civilization is diverse, with different histories, regions, ethnicities, religions, and inheritances. Each has its own reasons, and we cannot judge the pros and cons or the pros and cons. I advocate tolerance and freedom, respect for each other, and learning from each other's strengths and avoiding their weaknesses.
Speaking of Chinese tradition, the sage Confucius attached great importance to etiquette. In terms of social interaction and family education, he required etiquette and strictness. He elevated dining and banqueting to the level of ancestral temple sacrificial rituals, and his requirements were also extremely strict: the so-called "don't eat if it is not in season; don't eat if it is not cut properly" is only part of it. But the sage is a sage after all. He knows wine and respects people who drink. The sage who has always promoted dining etiquette to the temple is tolerant of wine, making exceptions and not setting limits. Confucius said: "Only wine is unlimited, but it should not lead to disorder." This is from "The Analects of Confucius·Xiangdang". That is to say, you can enjoy drinking as long as you don't lose your composure. From this, it can be seen that Confucius is at least a "drinking buddy" who knows wine. But how much he can drink remains to be verified by experts.
Author: Xie Mian
Text: Xie Mian Editor: Xie Juan Responsible Editor: Shu Ming
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