Book VII 493“The Classic of Documents says, “Spirits should be consumed only on the
occasions of sacrifices, but then virtue should preside to avoid drunkenness.”^33
The Book of Rites says, “The guest and host bow to each other a hundred
times when they offer a cup of wine, so they do not get drunk though they
drink all day long.”^34 This was the way in which those kings fostered the
personality of the people and how they provided help against the evil con-
sequences of drinking. This was the best way of prohibiting wine.
“After the Han and Wei dynasties, the world has gradually declined gen-
eration after generation to such a degree that it became incapable of pre-
serving the laws of the former sage kings and preventing troubles and
disasters from their inception. The government prohibited drinking alcohol
to save grain only after disasters such as flood, drought, frost, and locusts
broke out, but this approach was neither good nor bad. Sometimes the author-
ities, concerned about the lack of expenditure, prohibited the people from
privately producing wine, while monopolizing the whole wine industry to
make profits, and this was the worst kind of approach that they could adopt.
“We observe that Your Majesty is anxious to emulate the flourishing age
of the three dynasties in promulgating rites and music, but when it comes to
the matter of the prohibition of alcohol, you continue to be unchanged. What
can be the reason? Since the prohibition of alcohol was originally motivated
by the fear that wine could harm the human nature and cause trouble, your
decree had better warn against the danger of wine.
“At the end of the previous dynasty, discipline and order deteriorated and
rules and rites of propriety collapsed so that the literati enjoyed drinking
and letting their hair grow loose, imitating the people of Jin in olden days.
Pretending to be detached from the world, they threw away manners, obliv-
ious of all the earthly affairs. As common people imitated them, a custom
was finally formed, and it remains unchanged.
“Families who invite guests, regardless of their rank and status, are eager
to be extravagant to make their meetings more memorable, spending many
days on preparation. Unless the wine served is of the finest quality like that
used in the palace, or the table is not filled with rare kinds of food and
snacks, they dare not invite guests. This is no doubt a waste of property, but
will it end right there? It has grown worse and worse until the distinction
between high and low or good and bad has disappeared. In the worst of
- “The Announcement about Drunkenness,” The Shu King, p. 175.
- Li Ki, Sacred Books of China, vol. xxviii, p. 107.