CHAPTER II. AMONG THE CHINESE, HINDUS, PERSIANS, AND EGYPTIANS. drinks THE Turanian, Aryan, and Semitic races have all shared in the vice of drunkenness. Some kind of intoxicating may be traced to the infancy of all these races. Where did the vine originate? Of what country was it a native? These have long been "vexed questions among naturalists;" but it is generally conceded to be indigenous throughout all the vast region between the Caspian Sea, on the north, and the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, on the south; eastward, as far as the Himalaya Mountains, and westward as far as Syria -the region to which both history and philology point as the cradle of the human race. From this central region, it spread with the expansion of the race to every quarter of the globe suited to its cultivation. Among the Chinese, the most conspicuous representative of the Turanian branch of the human family, we find Mencius (d. 288 B. C.) and Confucius (d. 478 B. C.) mentioning' wine as excessively used in religious rites, and warning their followers against the vice of drunkenness. The "Shoo-King, or History," and also the "She-King, or Book of Ancient Poetry" referring to a still more remote antiquity, afford ample evidence of excess of wine and other liquors, called "spirits." "The Announcement about Drunkenness," an imperial edict supposed to have been promulgated about 1116 B.C., is a remarkable document. It says, "Our people have been greatly disorganized, and lost their virtue, which can be traced to their indulgence in spirits." After speaking of a long line of ancestors who practiced abstemiousness, it "Confucius et Mencius," pp. 144, 148, 333. * Legge's "Chinese Classics." Trübner & Co. Vol. iii, pt. 1, p. 274. mentions the last of a dynasty of kings who was much given to drink. "He gave himself up completely to spirits; and though the extinction of the dynasty of Yin was imminent, this gave him no concern. . . . The rank odor of the people's resentments, and the drunkenness of his hordes 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." The mandate concludes 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." in This production shows the existence of drunkenness in China very remote times, and that severe measures were resorted to to enforce sobriety. The drink appears to have been "arrack," or "spirits" prepared from rice and fermented, which was freely drank on festive and religious occasions, though wine was not unknown. A Chinese ode' says: "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, "In the ninth month, the cold begins with frost; To help their joy, and this proposal make: 'We'll 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, Wish him long life-the life of endless days.' 'The "She-King," pp. 182. 183. The protracted character of their revels is seen: "The dew lies heavy all around, Nor till the sun shines leaves the ground; We drink, and none his place may quit.” Their drinking was accompanied with music and dancing: "The drums resound; Having well drunk, they rise and dance, And thus their mutual joys enhance." These feasts include all ranks of society." Again:' "They dance about, now fast, now slow, Can hardly keep their feet; What fools they are they do not know, The royal topers were not always praised: "Thus to the tyrant Shen our King, Wau said: Not Heaven, but spirits flush your face with red, You do in all your conduct what is wrong, Your noisy feasts and revels you prolong, 994 And day through you is black as night." This poem abounds in allusions to the drinking customs of this great Oriental nation, which are too numerous and lengthy for further insertion here. These earlier customs are supposed to have been somewhat improved under the teachings of Confucius, Mencius, and the Buddhist religion, the latter system requiring total abstinence of its priests, and forbidding intoxication among the laity. It is not presumed, however, that drunkenness was entirely stayed by the spread of Buddhism. Notwithstanding its stringent precepts, intemperance continued to exert an extensive sway. Through long centuries little was known of large portions of China; but it appears, that between the tenth and sixteenth 3 The "She-King,” p. 207. Ibid., p. 375. Ibid., pp. 266–268. Ibid., p. 322. centuries of our era the distillation of alcoholic drinks was known and practiced there, and that early in the present century, not only spirits, but also native wines were drunk by all classes of people. From rice and millet a spirit, called by western nations arrack or raki, was distilled. Besides these, for about eighty years, China has imported beer, wine, and spirits from other countries. M. Huc, who traveled through the Chinese Empire more than thirty years ago, and wrote one of the most intelligent books of travel, says that drunkenness is a prolific cause of pauperism among that people, occasioned by "a variety of liquors," among which wine has been prominent as far back as about 1200 B. C. He says, the vine "has undergone many revolutions:" at some times cut down by order of Government, to give place to cereals; then planted again and specially cherished, but never wholly suspended in any of the numerous dynasties. He says, the Chinese were acquainted with the manufacture of "rice-wine," or arrack, at least twenty centuries before the Christian era; but that "corn-brandy," a kind of distilled spirits, dates back only to the thirteenth century A.D. It is very unpleasant to the taste, but the Chinese drink it with great avidity, serving it hot. "They swallow it like water; and many ruin themselves with brandy. In company, or even alone, they pass whole days and nights in drinking successive cups of it, until their intoxication makes them incapable of carrying the cup to their lips. When this passion has once seized on the head of a family, poverty, with all its lugubrious train, very soon makes its entrance into the house." "One can hardly imagine what pleasure the Chinese find in imbibing these burning drinks, which are absolutely like liquid fire, and, moreover, very illtasted. But many instances have been mentioned to us of their having died a fiery death for the sake of it; of men who have absorbed such quantities of alcohol as to have become fairly saturated with it, and to have, in a manner, exhaled it at every pore. The slightest accident then, perhaps in merely lighting a pipe, has been sufficient to envelop in flames and consume these wretched creatures." This, M. Huc, who is a careful and cautious writer, says he has not seen, but relates on the testimony of "persons on whom we can place the most perfect reliance." 1 Among the Aryan races of India we find, at a very remote date, an intoxicating drink, called "soma," offered as a libation to their deities; the priests themselves drinking copiously. The deities were propitiated and bribed with liquors, a preparation from the juice of a creeper, (Asclepias,) strained and mixed with malt and warm milk, and allowed to ferment. The "Rig Veda" is full of allusions to the drinking practices of the deities: "Come hither, O Indra, to our sacrifice. Drink of the soma, O soma drinker; thine intoxication is that which gives us abundance of cows. Come hither, O Indra, and intoxicate thyself." Banqueters are represented as saying, "Called by us, O Indra, sit down and intoxicate thyself with us, thy friends." The "Rig Veda" furnishes full evidence that the priests were inordinate drunkards, and the laity were no better. The Vedas mention another intoxicating drink, called "sura," much more inebriating than "soma," made from a tall grass, (Panicum,) mingled with water, curds, honey, butter, and barley. Later, other ingredients-rice, black pepper, lemon juice, ginger, and hot water-entered into this strange compound, which occasioned much crime. "The Rig Veda," says Samuelson," "is certainly the most extraordinary publication of a sacred character that can be imagined in respect to drink and drunkenness, and the space occupied by references to the potations of the gods-for there is hardly a hymn that is free from them-shows clearly that the Vedic people, both priests and laymen, must have been terrible drunkards, and must have believed their deities to have been A Journey Through the Chinese Empire." By M. Huc. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1855. Vol. ii, pp. 220–225. 2.. History of Drink." London: Trübner & Co. 1878. P. 40. To this book the author is indebted for some of the foregoing citations. |