Chinese wine culture

Chinese people are very hospitable, especially when they are at the dinner table. Chinese people believe the relationship between each other is best promoted when they are toasting. When Chinese people are toasting, they want their guests or friends to drink more, so as to express their hospitality and friendship. The more the guests drink, the happier they will be, because it shows that the gusts like their food and regard them. If the guests didn’t get drunk, the hosts will think the guests didn’t enjoy the dinner and will feel sorry and low in spirit. In order to urge the guests to drink more, there are many interesting sayings that have been carried from generation to generation, such as “deep feeling, bottom up”, “shallow feeling, take a sip”, “Do not leave until drunk”. If you do not have a ready tongue or a good eloquence and failed to come up with a reason to refuse, then be ready to get drunk! There are many ways of urging others to drink more which can be concluded as follows: “a polite urge”, “a forceful urge” and “a punishing urge”.

“A polite urge” is one of the best ways to show the traditional moral of the Chinese nation. It means to ask the guests to toast in a manner of politeness and formality. When the dinner begins, the host generally delivers a short speech, formal or not formal and then begins the first toast. The host mostly will bottom up the cup and then turn the cup upside down to show all the guests that he has drunk all of the wine. At this time, the guests should bottom up as well to show respect.

“A forceful urge” usually happens between very close friends. It is such an enjoyable and pleasant thing to sit and chat over dinner with your best friends, isn’t it? In China, it is a common thing to see a group of guys being very drunk and sing and laugh after the dinner. Reading this, you may not dare to visit a Chinese home, especially when it is dinner time. Do not worry, Chinese people are not as “horrible” as you imagined. They will not force you to drink if you really cannot dink wine. When a guest cannot drink or has drunk too much, someone else can also stand up to drink on behalf of the guest as a way of evading the toast with good grace. Generally, the person who helps others to drink has a good capacity for liquor and is in a special relationship with the guest that has been invited to drink. For example, at the wedding, the bridegroom is always the person who drinks on behalf of the bride.

“A punishing urge” is a special way of toasting by Chinese people. There are many sayings for the “punishing urge”

The most common saying when a punishing urge happens is the “forfeit of drinking three cups of wine”. People get a punishing urge for various reasons such as being late for the dinner, saying something wrong, or just for no reason, but mostly this is just kidding.

In order to ask the others to drink more, the toaster finds a variety of reasons for drinking. If the guest who is asked to drink more cannot come up with a reason to refuse, he is obliged to drink more. During the course of searching for reasons and excuses, expressions of positive regard between drinkers will arise from the toasting. Chinese people tend to drink more at dinner, but they know that drinking too much alcohol can be bad for the health, so they will take a special care of the drunk guests such as sending them home, not preventing them from drunk driving, etc. You are always welcome to take a toast!