But just what is "jiu" (酒)?

In Drinking Alone under the Moon (月下獨酌), one of the most famous poems in the Chinese language, Li Bai (李白; 701-762) begins “Among the flowers with a jar of wine, I drink alone, companionless” (花間一壺酒，獨酌無相親).

Li – because it is safe to assume this poem is autobiographical – then goes on to invite the moon and his own shadow to get drunk with him, though of course only he succeeds.

But what was this “wine” he was drinking? And was this the same as the wine drunk by Confucius (孔夫子; circa 551-479 BC) a millennium earlier, who added this when defining acceptable rules for food: “Only wine may be unlimited, but do not become confused [by it]” (唯酒無量，不及亂。)?

And what was consumed a millennium later by Jia Bao-yu (賈寶玉) in the Qing-dynasty novel Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢), when in one of a great many drinking passages, Daiyu (黛玉) has Xiangyun (湘雲) say to him: “It is very cold outside, you should drink a cup of warm wine and then go,” (外頭冷得很，你且吃杯熱酒再去). Indeed, what was the beverage of choice of the novel’s author, Cao Xue-qin (曹雪芹, 1719-64), himself a notorious tippler?

In short, what drink or drinks did the ubiquitous character 酒 (jiu), so often translated simply as “wine,” really refer to? And are there any products available in Taiwan today that are similar to those consumed by Confucius, Li, and Cao?



[This was the question I asked in an article in this month's Taiwan Business Topics magazine published by the American Chamber of Commerce, Taipei; see here or buy the magazine.]


[... and the conclusions I came to? read on ...]





For most tourists, a trip to the mountains is not complete without buying a bottle or two of Aboriginal millet wine (小米酒; xiaomijiu).

“This is about as close as Taiwanese can get to drinking what Confucius drank,” says Pan Chieh-chang, assistant manager at the state-owned Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp. who has researched the history of alcoholic drinks. “Either that or macgeolli, if they vacation in Korea. These are both examples of roughly filtered, low-strength sake, which produces a milk-like suspension of particles.”

Li Bai probably also drank something very similar, even though grapes had been introduced from Central Asia. But what about Jia Bao-yu and his creator Cao Xue-qin? “Ah!” says Pan. “They would have had more choice. It could well have been a better-filtered sake, but perhaps also a distilled baijiu (白酒; “white alcohol”) with significantly more bang.”

So Jia and Cao probably drank mostly rice sake, some distilled rice- or sorghum-based liquor, and perhaps the occasional bottle of grape wine.

Confucius drank thick, raw sake

... and Li Bai’s opening couplet might be more accurately (but less poetically) translated as:

“Among the flowers with a jar of low-strength, poorly-filtered, milky-colored, naturally fermented, millet beer, I drink alone, companionless.”



text and photos copyright Jiyue Publications

Li Bai (李白) poem: "Drinking Alone by Moonlight" (月下獨酌)

Li Bai's poem "Drinking Alone by Moonlight" (月下獨酌), translated by Arthur Waley,

花間一壺酒。 A pot of wine, under the flowering trees;
獨酌無相親。 I drink alone, for no friend is near.
舉杯邀明月。 Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
對影成三人。 For her, with my shadow, will make three people.

月既不解飲。 The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine;
影徒隨我身。 Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.
暫伴月將影。 Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave
行樂須及春。 I must make merry before the Spring is spent.

我歌月徘徊。 To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams;
我舞影零亂。 In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.
醒時同交歡。 While we were sober, three shared the fun;
醉後各分散。 Now we are drunk, each goes their way.
永結無情遊。 May we long share our eternal friendship,
相期邈雲漢。 And meet at last on the paradise.

Li Bai drunk at court

Tang dynasty poet Li Bai (李白; see xx) was asked to compose poems at the court of Emperor Xuan Zong (玄宗, r. 712~756) but turned up drunk and had to be supported by two eunuchs, as shown in this temple bas relief entitled “The Great Bai drunk on alcohol” (太白醉酒).
Despite his condition he managed to compose a dozen or more poems off the cuff, which pleased and impressed the emperor.
Subsequently, however, Li failed to secure permanent position at court. Some accounts say he applied to leave the capital at Chang’an (長安; today’s Xi’an 西安, Shaanxi 陝西); others that he was kicked out for angering the emperor by gossiping and revealing court secrets.






Text and photos © Jiyue Publications