State Administration': the Soul of Yellow Rice Wine

`As the heaven revolves, the gentleman should improve himself?` 'A person who suffers from any difficulties such as pain, tiredness, hunger, poverty will become talented, alert and steadfast and capable of taking great responsibility.' Confucianism stresses self-cultivation and proposes that everyone should make it their goal to `organize the family, father the state and conquer the world.' Confucians think that people are bound by values to contribute their talents and intelligence to society and the public and that they should not fear hardships and hazards, but forge forward indomitably and boldly with strong will and obstinacy. Their exploration concerning the enterprising life attitude has been embodied in Yellow Rice Wine, and in this process, their effort is elevated. Two thousand and five hundred years ago, Goujian, King of Yue state,imposed hardships on himself, and spent a decade multiplying the population and another decade summarizing the past lessons before he launched another attack against the neighbor Wu state. When the expeditionary army departed, he shared wine with his soldiers in a river, which greatly boosted the latter's spirits. As a result, he subdued Wu instantly and avenged himself. After the king became the most powerful lord in China, he threw banquets at Wentai to celebrate his victory. Qiu Jin, Lady of the Mirror Lake, was also a hell of wine drinker. She once said heroically, 'We love freedom; and to reward our effort to win it, we treat ourselves with a cup of wine.' She fought the dark forces courageously and distinguished herself as an unquestionable heroine. XuWei, the famous Ming scholar, was extraordinarily talented and obstinate. An artist who would not subject himself to the rich and the powerful, he often held a wine cup in his hand and created many outstanding paintings in the state of intoxication. Like Xu Wei, many Shaoxing scholars took posts in local governments and acted as advisors. This special group of intellectuals had never given up their ideal of 'governing the state and conquering the world'. They were intelligent, resolute and sophisticated; they had coupled softness and hardness, just like the character of yellow Rice Wine. They would never surrender their principles for their pay and curry favor with the powerful, If their ideals or pursuits were shared by the officials they worked for, they would serve them whole-heartedly; otherwise, they would willingly resign themselves to teaching,for which they could also earn a living. The qualities preached by Confucianism -the inclusive spirit, the approach to attaining to benevolence through self-restraint, and the willingness to eat dirt for the general good- have found full expression in Shaoxing scholars. In Menus at Suiyuan Garden by Yuan Mei, a famous scholar in the Qing Dynasty, there is a passage praising Shaoxing scholars, which goes, Shaoxing yellow rice wine is just like an upright official- -only if it is not adulterated can it retain its flavor; it is also like a celebrated scholar or elderly hero, who has experienced so much that his character becomes more thicker"". In this passage, Yuan has likened yellow rice wine to an upright official, which constitutes not only a praise to the beverage, but also a precise observation concerning its soul.