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3 The Morality of Drunkenness in Chinese Literature of the Third Century CE Nicholas Morrow Williams Sobriety diminishes, discriminates, and says no; drunkenness expands, unites, and says yes. It is in fact the great exciter of the YES function in man. It brings its votary from the chill periphery of things to the radiant core. It makes him for the moment one with truth.1 —William James It is not wine that intoxicates, but men who intoxicate themselves. 惺ᶵ愱ṢṢ冒愱 —Proverb Introduction: The Moral Ambiguity of Alcohol The symbolic significance of alcohol and drunkenness is ambivalent, encompassing both its intense pleasures and unruly consequences.2 We find this ambivalence stated neatly in the definition of ‘alcohol’ given by Xu Shen 姙ヶġ(c. 58–147 CE): ‘Alcohol’ (jiu) means ‘to achieve’ (jiu). It is what is used to achieve the good and evil in human nature. It is composed of 㯜 and 惱, and 惱 is also the phonetic. It also means ‘to produce’, since it is what produces good and bad fortune. In ancient times Yi Di invented unfiltered ale. Yu tasted it and found it excellent, but then exiled Yi Di. Du Kang invented rice wine. 惺⯙ḇˤ㇨ẍ⯙Ṣ⿏ᷳ┬らˤ⽆㯜惱炻惱Ṏ倚ˤᶨ㚘忈ḇ炻⎱↞㇨忈崟ḇˤ⎌侭₨ 䉬ἄ惺慒炻䥡▿ᷳ侴伶炻忪៯₨䉬ˤ㜄⹟ἄ䦓惺ˤ3 Xu Shen begins with a paronomastic gloss that introduces the duality of alcohol. It is something like a catalyst that can help to realize both the positive and negative potential of human beings. The origin stories recounted in the second half of the entry make clear that this ambivalence was present even at the invention of alcohol in China. The exile of Yi Di is the primeval example of the suspicion directed at alcohol, even by those like Yu who appreciated its taste. Alcohol can encourage both good and evil tendencies, so its role in society at large is ambiguous, but it stands in particular tension to the interests of the state, and its successful invention was followed immediately by the banishment of its 28 Scribes of Gastronomy inventor. As we shall see below, both the good and evil consequences of alcohol would continue to reverberate in Chinese culture, reaching a climax after the fall of the Eastern Han. The rewards of drinking are recognized as early as the Classic of Poetry 娑䴻, which praises its health benefits: ‘Make this spring wine, / To aid your bushybrowed longevity’ 䁢㬌㗍惺炻ẍṳ䚱⢥.4 There are some curious anecdotes that attribute similar functions to alcohol, as in the Shenyi jingġ䤆䔘䴻ġ(Classic of the divine and marvellous): In the wastes to the northwest there is a Wine Spring. When people drink this wine, it is delicious as meat, clear as a mirror. Above the spring there is a jade goblet. When you take one goblet, another goblet appears. It is as permanent as Heaven and Earth and will never dry up. Those who drink this wine live forever. 大⊿勺ᷕ㚱惺㱱ˤṢ梚㬌惺炻惺伶⤪倱炻㶭⤪掉ˤ℞ᶲ㚱䌱㧥炻⍾ᶨ㧥炻⽑ᶨ㧥 ↢ˤ冯⣑⛘⎴ẹ炻䃉Ḧ㗪ˤ梚㬌惺Ṣ炻ᶵ㬣攟䓇ˤ5 These associations of alcohol and longevity are not unlike the contemporary scientific claim that red wine, drunk in moderation, can promote longevity. However, this positive association of alcohol is an individual and even selfish one. The immortality granted by the alcoholic spring belongs to a realm outside of civilization, isolated from human society. The pleasure of drunkenness was something private and even taboo; as Li Bai wrote: ‘If you should reach wine’s true delight, / Don’t tell the sober people a word!’ġ Ữ⼿惺ᷕ嵋炻㭳䁢愺侭⁛.6 Though Li Bai’s statements of this point of view are most famous, there are numerous earlier precedents, of which Yu Xin’s couplet is perhaps most succinct: ‘When you have a glass of wine before your eyes, / Who would speak of fame that outlasts death?’ 䛤⇵ᶨ㜗惺炻婘婾幓⼴⎵.7 In poetry, alcohol was typically presented as an aid for enjoyment of the present moment, and also a way to evade the concerns of the sober and serious. The Zhuangzi uses drunkenness as a metaphor for the ideal form of escape from societal pressures. It presents drunkenness (with admiration) as a kind of escape from worldly dangers, a lesser form of the sage’s indifference: When a drunken man is thrown from a cart, swiftly though he falls it does not kill him. His bones and joints are the same as another man’s, yet he is not harmed as another man would be, because of the integrity of his spirit. He rides without knowing it, falls without knowing it; life and death, astonishment and fear, find no entry into his breast, and so he does not shrink from hitting things. If this is true even of a man who gets his integrity from wine, how...

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