THE THREE SUBDIVISIONS OF THE HUMAN FAMILY—THE TURANIAN BRANCH—ANCIENT
CHINA—BUDDHIST LAWS CONCERNING DRINK—MODERN CHINA.
Nothing can be more interesting and instructive than to study the
drinking propensities of the earliest races of mankind, for it is
impossible to consider those without at the same time becoming acquainted
with their social customs, their family life, the tone of their religious
thought, and much that is important in regard to their national history.
In order to attain this object, we will adopt, generally speaking, the
most recent classification of the great human family into the Aryan, the
Semitic, and the Turanian groups, and will select one or more typical
nations to represent each, for special consideration.
From the Turanian branch, with which we shall first deal, we propose in
this chapter to single out the great Chinese empire for consideration,
taking no account of the savage tribes of Asia and Polynesia, nor of the
Lapps and Finns, who, roughly speaking, complete that subdivision of
mankind.
Next we shall deal with the main branches of the Aryan family, the
ancient inhabitants of India, Persia, and Central Asia; and in a later
portion of the work, their descendants in the empires of ancient
Greece and Rome, and subsequently those of modern Europe and America,
will demand and receive our attention. Lastly, we shall investigate the
drinking habits of the Semitic family, the ancient Hebrews, the ancient
Egyptians, and the followers of Mahomet.
The Chinese believe themselves to be the most ancient people in the
world, and from the accounts which follow it will be seen that they
may at least lay claim to a very early civilisation. Their greatest
philosopher, whose name has been handed down to modern times as
Confucius, lived in the fifth century before Christ, his death being
fixed at 478 B.C., and one of his disciples, Mencius, who was almost as
highly honoured as himself, flourished about two centuries later, dying
288 B.C. These two great men left behind them many original precepts
and adages, but they are also believed to have edited and perfected a
series of books or “Kings” which had been handed down from generation to
generation long before their time; and it is from those books that we
shall be able to collect information in regard to the drinking habits of
ancient China, and their influence upon the destinies of the people. But
although it will be anticipating somewhat in regard to time, we cannot
help thinking that our readers would like to know something concerning
the habits of the great teacher himself, whose name is most familiar to
European ears as one of the regenerators of our race.
Confucius was a highly cultivated literary man of his time, whose
instruction was reverently listened to by princes and nobles, but who
led a simple and abstemious life. His dress was very unostentatious,
and he is said to have avoided the bright colours which were usually
worn by men of high rank in his day. Some amusing details are given
of his apparel.[22] His night-dress, we are told, was always half as
long again as his body, which is of itself a proof of the advances
that had been made in civilisation by the Chinese at that early date,
for in our country, even in the thirteenth century or later, kings and
queens are said to have slept in a state of complete nudity.[23] Once
every month Confucius donned his court robes to pay his devoirs to his
prince, and he was also very particular as to the vestments which he
wore during sacrifices. He had all the dignity of his race, and his
mode of bowing and of conversing with his superiors and inferiors is
described as courteous and appropriate. When not occupied in court
or other ceremonies, his countenance was smiling and affable. Of his
domestic habits we have ample details. He usually ate rice, with small
portions of meat and fish, but he never tasted those if they were
becoming putrified,[24] from which it would appear that “gamey” food was
not unknown to the epicures of his day. The amount of drink of which he
partook was not restricted, but he never indulged so far as to “disturb
his understanding,” a circumstance which naturally leads us to infer that
hard drinking was then no uncommon practice at the tables of the rich.
The teachings of Confucius relate chiefly to the higher branches of
ethics, the means of attaining perfection, and the rules of good
government. They treat in general terms of vice and virtue, and it was
not often that he descended to the consideration of particular sins.
Occasionally, however, we find sentences which throw light upon Chinese
society in his day. “The superior man,” he says, “when he is at table
does not seek to glut his appetite. When he is in his house he does not
indulge in the enjoyments of indolence and effeminacy.”[25] “Ki-chi (a
noble of the kingdom of Lou) employed eight troupes of musicians at
his family fêtes. If he can allow himself to act thus, of what is he
not capable?”[26] “I see no fault in Yu; he was sober in eating and
drinking.”[27] “When you are abroad,” said the philosopher, “pay your
respects to your superior magistrates.... Be not given to excess in the
use of wine.”[28]
His disciple Mencius makes more frequent references to the vice
of drunkenness. He speaks of the excessive use of wine in the
sacrifices.[29] “The vices,” he says, “which, according to the custom
in our day, are called defects of filial piety, are five in number....
Loving to play chess,[30] and to drink instead of fulfilling one’s duties
to father and mother, is the second defect of filial piety.”
Judging from the writings of these two sages, however, we should,
perhaps, be disposed to think that drunkenness was not a flagrant vice in
their day, for whilst directions are given over and over again concerning
religious rites and observances, the duties of princes, obedience and
reverence to parents; whilst both princes and people are warned against
voluptuousness and extravagance, we seldom find drunkenness referred to,
and never as a dangerous and prevalent vice. But long before their time a
very different state of things must have prevailed, for the “Shoo-King,
or History,”[31] and the “She-King, or Book of Ancient Poetry,”[32]
teem with evidences of the over-indulgence in wine, as well as what
are called “spirits,” and it is to those records that we must now turn
in order to acquire a fuller knowledge of the subject. That the use of
intoxicating drinks was not absolutely forbidden, but was sanctioned
under certain conditions, is clear, both from the poems as well as the
prose writings of the period. Here is an extract from the “Shoo-King, or
History,”[33]—“Ye people of the Land of Mei, if you can employ your limbs
largely, cultivating your millet, and hastening about in the service of
your fathers and elders, and if, with your cart and oxen, you traffic
to a distance, that you may thereby filially minister to your parents,
then when your parents are happy, you may set forth your spirits clear
and strong, and you may use them. Hearken constantly to my instructions,
all ye high officers, ye assistants, and all ye noble chiefs; when you
have hugely done your duty in ministering to your aged and serving your
sovereign, you may eat and drink freely and to satiety.”
This forms part of what is called “The Announcement about Drunkenness,”
an imperial edict believed to have been promulgated about 1116 B.C., to
which we shall refer again presently; but in order to show beyond a
doubt that the use of intoxicating drinks in moderation was sanctioned
at that period, we will quote one or two short notes of the commentators
in the “Shoo-King” relating to the subject. One of them, Soo-ting-po,
says, “Spirits are what men will not do without. To prohibit them and
secure a total abstinence from them is beyond the power even of sages.
Here, therefore, we have warnings on the abuse of them.” Another,
Nan-heen, says, “Strong drink is intended to be used in offering
sacrifices and entertaining guests; such employment of it is what
Heaven has prescribed.” A third, speaking of Prince Fung, to whom the
“Announcement about Drunkenness” is addressed, says, “The people of Yin
had followed the example of their sovereign, and the vice of drunkenness
with its attendant immoralities extensively characterised the highest
and lowest classes of society. One of Fung’s most difficult tasks in his
administration would be to correct this evil habit, and he is, in this
book, summoned to the undertaking. He is instructed in the proper and the
allowable uses of spirits; the disastrous consequences of drunkenness
are strikingly set forth: he is called to roll back the flood of its
desolation from his officers and people.”
And as to the “Announcement” itself, a most strange and interesting
document, it recites the cautions which had been addressed by preceding
monarchs to the great officers of state, pointing out that “for
sacrifices spirits should be employed.” But it proceeds to say, in quaint
and forcible terms, that “our people have been greatly disorganised and
lost their virtue, which can be traced to their indulgence in spirits.”
“Yea, the ruin of states great and small” is invariably traced to the
same cause, the use of spirits. “King Wan,” it says, “admonished and
instructed the young and all who were charged with office and employment
that they should not ordinarily use spirits” but only on occasion of
sacrifices, “and then that virtue should preside, so that there might be
no drunkenness.” The edict goes on to show how a long line of ancestors
had practised self-denial, “from T’ang the successful to the Emperor
Yih,” setting an excellent example to their ministers and servants, they
not daring to indulge in drunkenness; but that “the last successor of
those kings was addicted to drink,” so that (to put it in the phraseology
of the Flowery Land of old), “No charges came from him brightly before
the people, and he was reverently and unchangingly bent on doing and
cherishing what provoked resentment. He gave himself up completely to
spirits; and though the extinction of the dynasty of Yin was imminent,
this gave him no concern, and he wrought not that any sacrifices of
fragrant virtue might ascend to heaven. The rank odour of the people’s
resentments, and the drunkenness of his herds of creatures, went loudly
up on high, so that Heaven sent down ruin on Yin, and showed no love
for Yin, because of such excesses. There is not any cruel oppression of
Heaven; people themselves accelerate their guilt and its punishment.”
We have only space for the concluding mandate of the “Announcement,”
which runs as follows: “If you are told that there are companies who
drink together, do not fail to apprehend them all and send them to Chow,
where I will put them to death. As to the ministers and officers of Yin,
who have been led to it and been addicted to drink, it is not necessary
to put them to death; let them be taught for a time. If they keep
these lessons, I will give them bright distinction. If you disregard
my lessons then, I, the one man, will show you no pity. As you cannot
cleanse your way, you shall be classed with those who are to be put to
death. The king says, “O Fung, give constant heed to my admonitions. If
you do not manage right, your officers and the people will continue lost
in drink.”
This “Announcement,” although to us it seems somewhat vague it its
wording, very clearly proclaims certain facts. That drunkenness had taken
such a hold upon the people as to threaten the ruin of the empire of
China more than one thousand years B.C.; that the chief ruler feared to
deal with nobles and ministers of state as with the common people (“one
law for the rich and another for the poor”); that the punishment of death
was at least threatened in the attempt to enforce sobriety; that total
abstinence was not deemed to come within the province of legislative
enactment; and that it was proper to use strong drink in religious
ceremonies.[34] But we may learn far more than this from the ancient
records. The “Book of Poetry” (“She-King”) gives us some very interesting
details of the domestic, social, and religious life of the period, and we
shall have no difficulty in transporting ourselves back three thousand
years or more, and of witnessing in imagination the gatherings which are
so graphically delineated.
The popular drink appears to have been “spirits” prepared from rice
and strained, as we shall find from the poems of which extracts follow,
and these spirits were drunk on all occasions. The religious festivals
seem to have been accompanied, as some are even in our day, by social
entertainments; and the drinking-songs and pastorals show that although
temperance was esteemed a virtue, it was one which was not always
practised on those occasions.
The two following verses are extracts from an ode descriptive of life
in the land of Pin in the olden time; the date is uncertain, but it was
probably more than eleven hundred years B.C.[35]
“For food, the sixth month, plums and vines they spoil;
The seventh, the beans and sunflower seeds they boil;
The eighth, they strike the jujube dates all down;
The tenth, they reap the paddy fully grown,
And with the grain make spirits ’gainst the spring,
Which to the bushy eyebrows comfort bring.
...
In the ninth month, the cold begins with frost:
The tenth, their cornyards swept and clean they boast.
Good spirits in two vessels kept they take
To help their joy, and this proposal make:—
‘Well kill both lambs and sheep,’ they joyous say,
‘And to the Ruler’s quickly take our way.
We’ll mount his hall; the massive cup we’ll raise
Made of rhinoceros’ horn; and as we praise,
Wish him long life,—the life of endless days.’”
Thus it would appear that, after completing their harvest and sweeping
their cornyards clean, those ancient people went to greet their rulers,
as shown in the preceding verses, and they also offered sacrifices to the
gods. Those customs are well described in verse:—
“Now, when our barns are filled with grain,
And myriad stacks in field remain,
Spirits and viands we prepare
To use on grand occasions rare,
In sacrificial rite.”[36]
And when they go before their ruler they sing thus:[37]—
1. “You gave us the brimming cup,
And crowned us with your grace;
Great king, for ever may you live,
With brightening happiness!
2. “You gave us the brimming cup,
And dainty viands spread;
May you, great king, for ever live,
Your splendour never fade!”
Their potations were drunk from the horn of the rhinoceros, as already
stated, and also from gourds—two substances which were in use amongst the
most primitive races, and of which we shall repeatedly find mention made
hereafter:—
“From herd and pen the victims both are killed;
Dried gourds for cups are with the spirits filled:
So does the duke his friends and chieftains feast,
Him as their lord and ruler hails each guest.”[38]
That their revels were often protracted there can be no doubt whatever
from the following:—
“The dew lies heavy all around,
Nor till the sun shines leaves the ground;
Far into the night we feasting sit,
We drink, and none his place may quit.”[39]
The drinking at their entertainments was accompanied by dancing and
singing:—
“The drums resound;
Having well drunk, they rise and dance,
And thus their mutual joys enhance.”[40]
And such entertainments are not confined to the lower classes only, but
are given by all ranks of society. The following describes temperate
feasting, the host being the king himself:—
“See the mighty cup of horn
Round their ranks in order borne!
Full of spirits soft and good,
It excites no conduct rude;
Surely blessings haste to greet
Lords of virtue so complete.”[41]
But the royal topers are not always so bepraised. The reader will
recollect in the “Announcement about Drunkenness” a virtuous King Wan is
mentioned, who admonished princes and rulers not to indulge too freely in
strong drink. Whether or not the following is the same we are unable to
say, but—
“Thus to the tyrant Show our King Wan said:—
‘Alas! alas! Yin’s king so great,
Not heaven but spirits flush your face with red,
That evil thus you imitate.
You do in all your conduct what is wrong,
Darkness to you the same as light,
Your noisy feasts and revels you prolong,
And day through you is black as night.’”[42]
The middle classes, too, indulged freely, and often entertained their
family connections at drinking parties:—
“I’ve strained and made my spirits clear,
The fatted lamb I’ve killed,
With friends who my own surname bear
My hall I’ve largely filled.”[43]
The “She-King” is full of poems which relate to the drinking habits of
the ancient Chinese, and one of them, called “The _Pin-che-tsoo-yen_:
Narrative against Drunkenness,”[44] too long for transference to these
pages, gives a vivid picture of the licence of the period. It describes
an archery match, followed by a festival, at which many of the guests
became intoxicated, and their behaviour is narrated in rather amusing
terms, one verse telling the reader that—
“They dance about, now fast now slow,
Can hardly keep their feet;
What fools they are they do not know,
No one resumes his seat.”
The perusal of this poem, which we should recommend to the reader who
is curious in such matters, shows that many of our customs date back as
far as those ancient days. The company began by drinking the health of
the ruling sovereign, and at the head of the table was a “chairman,” who
decided disputes, and was assisted by a “vice.”
Both poetry and prose records, then, indicate to us that in the very
earliest times there already existed in China those drinking propensities
which have exercised so powerful an influence for evil upon the character
of nations. The odes and poems range over a period of two or three
thousand years, and there may have been times at which comparative
sobriety was a national characteristic, as it has again become in modern
China and in the East generally; but certain facts are clear, namely,
that in ancient China all classes of society, from the king to the
peasant, indulged freely in “spirits,” or intoxicating drinks prepared
from cereals; that the use of such drinks was sanctioned by the priests
in their religious ceremonials, and that their consumption entered
largely, as in our day, into the practice of hospitality. Great efforts
were evidently made both by legislative enactments of the severest
kind, and through the teaching of sages, to suppress drunkenness, which
threatened at one time to subvert the Empire. Nay, it is probable that
the excessive use of drink and its accompanying vices caused the downfall
of one or more dynasties, and it is quite certain that the people rose
in rebellion against their debauched rulers and their servants, whose
tyranny was aggravated by their drinking propensities, and who themselves
committed the very crimes from which they should have protected the
masses. But how a people whose history, three thousand years since,
presented such features as these, should not only have maintained their
national existence, but should have become sober, it is difficult to
explain. The change is no doubt owing chiefly to the spread of the
Buddhist religion in China. In the practices of the ancient idolatry
drunkenness was a prominent characteristic, as we shall find it to have
been also in the religious observances of the Aryan nations; but Gautama
Sâkya, the Buddha (or enlightened), who lived in India about the sixth
century, B.C.,[45] founded a religion in which total abstinence was a
rule of the priesthood, as it had already been a Brahminical law. For
the laity he promulgated ten commandments which interdicted murder,
theft, adultery, lying, intoxication, voluptuousness, and extravagance,
whilst to the priests were enjoined total abstinence from the use of
intoxicating drinks, mendicancy, and fasting of the severest description.
On entering his noviciate the young Buddhist priest vows, “I will observe
the precept or ordinance that forbids the use of intoxicating drinks,
that lead to indifference towards religion;” and he also renounces every
other human enjoyment, along with most of the necessaries of life.[46]
His dress was of the meanest, if a few tatters can be called dress; his
food was barely sufficient to keep body and soul together, such as a
small portion of rice; he was a professed mendicant, going from place to
place with an almsbowl. His day was employed in religious observances,
meditation, penance, and self-mortification; in short, he became an
ascetic of the strictest order, and it was his duty to teach virtue
and morality to the multitude. “It is ever the rule of the Buddhas to
proclaim first the reward to be received for the giving of alms, and
then to enforce the precepts. The four great virtues are almsgiving,
affability, promoting the prosperity of others, and loving others as
ourselves.” “_But there is no reward to him who gives intoxicating
liquors_, ... or gives to those who only dance and sing, or exhibit
indecencies, or make obscene paintings on some public place.”[47] These
ordinances and dogmas give us at once a vivid picture of the morality
of the age, and show us the means that were taken to reform its vices.
The Buddhist religion, than which none has been more abused and less
understood, spread rapidly throughout China, and there can be no doubt
that such a code, supported by the example of its administrators, and
operating as it has done for more than two thousand years, must have
exercised a very beneficial influence on the national character.
There are, indeed, many who will unhesitatingly say that drunkenness is a
sin almost unknown in China at the present day, but that is undoubtedly
an exaggeration; and before closing this chapter we will endeavour to
form as correct an estimate as possible of the condition of the modern
Chinese in that respect. In doing so, it must however be remembered that
the temporary oblivion which seems to possess such a charm for vast
numbers of people, and which is induced in other countries by means of
intoxicants, is attained in China through opium, supplied from India,
to our shame be it said, by Englishmen who are protected by the laws of
their country. It would be unwise to place too much reliance upon the
statements of travellers in China, but it may safely be concluded from
their narratives that between the tenth and sixteenth centuries of our
era, the distillation of alcoholic drinks was known and practised there;
and that in the early part of the present century not only spirits but
native wines were drunk by all classes of the people. The chief natural
productions which have been and are still employed for the manufacture
of such drinks are rice and millet, from which a spirit called in Europe
arrack or raki is distilled, and some idea may be formed of the extent
to which these cereals were cultivated in past times from the fact that
in 1696 the quantity of rice and corn brought into the emperor’s stores
as tribute was 43,328,834 sacks, along with 38,550 lbs. of dried fruits
of various kinds. Besides the native liquors, China has imported beer,
wines, and spirits from other countries. Between the years 1810 and 1820
beer to the value of £14,309, and wine in bottles and packages valued
at £7383, were sent to China by the East India Company, and in the year
ending January 5, 1819, the Americans sent 1000 gallons of gin into
Canton. The importation of all these liquors and of European wines of
other descriptions has since then been constantly increasing.[48]
Morewood mentions that numbers of carts loaded with raki entered Pekin
daily in his time, and that the liquor was distributed over 1000 taverns;
but it should be stated that this proportion of public-houses to the
total number of inhabitants is very small compared with those of England,
and in China there is no restriction whatever on the sale of intoxicating
drink. The Chinese public-houses are, moreover, not mere drinking-shops,
but wherever a number of guests are assembled, they usually partake of
solid food as well as drink, and during their meals they are entertained
with comedies or musical performances. Private drinking parties, called
wine clubs, are, however, not uncommon, especially amongst young men, who
assemble at each other’s houses or at such places as may be selected, the
expenses being defrayed by the members in rotation. On such occasions the
day is spent in feasting, wine-drinking, card-playing, and such other
amusements as may be suggested by the host for the time being.[49] The
liquors drunk are distilled from red and white rice (which impart to
them their colours), and sometimes from potatoes, beans, or sugar-cane.
The juice of the grape is not used, and the Chinese native wine is in
reality whisky, which is drunk hot from cups of small dimensions.[50] The
latter fact does not, however, necessarily limit the quantity of liquor
consumed, for in some cases thirty or forty rounds are drunk.
The older people have similar feasts in connection with their trade
guilds, of which interesting descriptions have been given both by
travellers and residents. One of the latter, Mr. Giles, who was long
connected with the British Consular service, has published a graphic
account of modern China, in which he gives minute details of these social
gatherings. On one occasion he was present at a Chinese dinner-party of
six native gentlemen, who occupied seats at what he calls a four-legged
“eight fairy” table. Before each guest there was a pair of chopsticks,
a wine-cup, a small saucer of soy, a two-pronged fork, a spoon, a
tiny plate divided into two separate compartments for melon seeds and
almonds, and a pile of small pieces of paper for cleaning these various
articles as required. On the table was a kind of dessert consisting of
dried fruits as with us, and in the centre there were slices of ham,
sardines, &c., as is the custom in Sweden, Norway, and Russia. “Wine,” he
says,[51] “is produced the first thing, and poured into small porcelain
cups by the giver of the feast himself. It is polite to make a bow and
place one hand at the side of the cup while this operation is being
performed. The host then gives the signal to drink, and the cups are
emptied instantaneously, being often turned bottom upward as a proof
that there are no heel-taps. Many Chinamen, however, cannot stand even a
small quantity of wine, and it is no uncommon thing, when the feast is at
an eating-house, to hire one of the theatrical singing-boys to perform
vicariously such heavy drinking as may be required by custom or exacted
by forfeit.”[52] We will not pursue the description further, adding only
that amongst the dishes provided at this particular dinner-party were
sharks’ fins with crab sauce, pigeon’s eggs stewed with mushrooms, sliced
sea-slugs in chicken-broth with ham, stewed lily roots, and lumps of
parboiled mutton fried in pork fat.
The same author’s observations concerning the moral condition of the
lower classes are equally interesting. He seems disposed to make light of
opium-smoking, and does not consider it nearly such a pernicious custom
as gin-drinking in England. He considers the working classes remarkably
sober, a drunken husband being the exception; and during eight years’
residence in China, he says he never saw a drunken man in the streets.
“Opium-smokers we have seen in all stages of intoxication, but no drunken
brawls, no bruised and bleeding wives.” One thing is, however, certain;
the inability to procure intoxicating liquor has as much to do with the
sobriety of the poor Chinaman as the absence of a taste for drink; for,
as Mr. Giles says, it is as much as he can do to feed his family, which
consists not only of his wife and children but his parents also; and
he has besides to provide a supply of rice for uncles, cousins, &c.;
hence it follows that every cash earned either by the man or woman goes
towards procuring food and clothing instead of enriching the keepers of
grog-shops.[53] This is an important consideration, and one that should
not be lost sight of, when we look at the relations between the earnings
of working people and their expenditure on drink. China, like many other
countries in which wealth is unequally distributed, may at some future
time, when her working classes are more prosperous, have to contend
again with the national vice which was so prevalent during her early
civilisation.