What Is Wine?

What is wine? To this we can reply without a second thought: an alcoholic beverage fermented of materials containing starch or sugar such as grain and fruits. However, if the question is rephrased in another way- what wine is? - then we will surely have to wrestle over it longer and the answer we provide will certainly be vastly different.

Wine is a special thing open to multiple interpretations:

First, it is by nature a material, a mixed drink containing such chemical ingredients as acids, esters and alcohols, of which ethyl alcohol can be directly absorbed by the intestines and stomach. A few minutes after you drink wine, alcohol is first carried by blood to the liver; after a filtering process there, it reaches to the heart, then to the lungs, and then back to the heart; in the heart, it finishes its journey in the main artery and enters the veins, through which it is conveyed to the brain and the higher nervous center...and works wonderful biological and psychological effects on human. This may account for the basic motive and incentive of human's love of booze.

Wine is a product, as well as a sign, of human civilization. Every since it was born, it has established close relationships with people of all strata -ranging from high officials, noble lords to people in the street --- and become an inseparable part of people's common life. More precisely, it has found its way into Chinese history, which has lasted thousands of years. Or, in other words, the culture embodied by wine, thousands of years old, has been an important treasure in the treasury of Chinese culture. On the one hand, it has developed as part of Chinese culture; on the other, it has greatly enriched the latter. That explains why some people liken wine to 'yeast for culture', and to a dazzling gem of traditional Chinese culture. The times of prosperity have always coincided with a booming brewing industry, while the hard times with a weakened one. Therefore, in wine we can see the ups and downs of the nation, the changes of times. Since wine was born, it has developed inseparable ties with all facets of human society: economy, politics, war, friendship, poetry & painting, love, religion...What is more, on all of these facets, wine has exerted its influences.

The Chinese people like wine. Signs of this liking can be found everywhere. The influence of wine is greater and more profound than any other things. In the Four Chinese Classical Literary Masterpieces, which reflect Chinese politics, economy, military, and cultural life all at once, there are many scenes involving wine, 647 in the case of Heroes of the Marshes (5 for each chapter on average), 319 in the case of Romance of Three Kingdoms (nearly 3 for each chapter on average). From this, it can be seen that wine has a lingering effect that can encourage valor and inspire chivalry. Even though Pilgrimage to the West is a novel on Buddhism which practices abstinence, there are 103 scenes involving wine, one in each chapter on average, which testify the famous Chinese saying, 'Wine and meat go through the intestines, but the Buddha stays in the heart.` The Dream of the Red Mansions, which depicts the life in the Rong and Ning Mansions, presents the reader with 152 scenes involving wine. Some chapters are even committed to dining and wining scenes. This illustrates how closely wine is linked to love, family, and social changes, and how important the role played by wine in social life is.

As a form and phenomenon of culture, wine varies in meaning from time to time, from region to region, from nationality to nationality.