AComparisonofChineseandWesternWineCultur

Abstract:Wine,as a distinguished and traditional drink,has long been liked by people all over the world,and has developed a unique culture both in China and abroad.This essay will make a comparison between Chinese and western wine culture from three aspects,and es-pecially focus on the differences between the two cultures.And finally a conclusion about the differences will be drawn.

Key words:Chinese wine culture;West-ern wine culture;wine drinking customs;mate-rials of wine;objectives of drinking wine

中图分类号：G04

1.Differences in materials of wine

Chinese wine culture has a very long his-tory,in which,the one with the longest history is millet wine,while white liquor is characteris-tic of Chinese wine.Among the many Chinese wines,it has both a long history and mature technology.The production of Chinese white liquor ranks first in the world′s distilled liquors. Chinese civilization was brought about from Yellow River Valley,which has soil of surpass-ing fertility and mild climate.Over10，000 years ago,China,together with Western Asia and Central America,had already become one of the three famous agricultural centers in the world.The fact that China has long been rich in its food crops has laid the foundations for brew-ing wine from grain.

Greece,where Western Civilization is cul-tivated,is located in Balkan Peninsula,and is full of hills and islands.The soil is relatively infertile.The Mediterranean climate there is not suitable for growing crops.Therefore,the grain can only be adequate to feed people,while little surplus to brew wine.However,grapes suit the soil and climate in Greece well.Thus grapes became the main materials of wine in the West-ern world.

2.Differences in drinking customs

Chinese drinking customs show respect for the person who drinks wine.Hosts and guests both have their fixed seats and toasting orders.

A host must be the first to toast others,and oth-er people are not supposed to toast until the host finishes toasting.If someone does not con-form to this order,he or she will be punished. When toasting,wine cups should be full,which also show respect for the person who is toasted.And the toasting should be started from the most

distinguished guests.The younger generations

should first toast members of the elder genera-

tions,and the lower levels should first toast the

higher levels.Another custom to show respect

when toasting is drinking off a cup of wine at one

draught.Drinking customs such as playing a

drinker′s wager name and playing finger-guess-

ing game are designed for the drinkers to have

more fun when drinking.Apparently,influenced

by Chinese traditional culture of seniors and ju-

niors,Chinese wine culture focuses on the re-

spect for the person who drinks wine.

Different from Chinese way of drinking,

Western drinking customs show respect for wine

itself.One must appreciate wine from different

angles and in different aspects,such as looking,

smelling and tasting,from white wine to red

wine,lighter wine to stronger wine,and younger

wine to older wine.Only by this way can one

fully enjoy the taste of wine.In addition,drink-

ing utensils such as wine glasses,decanters and

thermometers are also designed for better enjoy-

ing the taste of wine.All in all,all drinking

customs are surrounded the goal of tasting and

enjoying wine.In feasts,toasting usually takes

place between main courses and desserts.When

toasting,one should hold up his or her wine

glass and looks at the object person of toasting,

and drink at least a sip of wine to show respect.

There is no need to drink the whole glass of

wine,unlike in China.One can drink the

amount of wine as he or she pleases.

3.Differences in objectives of drinking

Though a delicious drink,wine is treated

as a tool in most cases in China.One of the

most famous sayings about drinking wine is“the

Old Tippler′s delight does not reside in wine”,

which means having other things in mind,

demonstrating that what Chinese people pursue

by drinking is something other than wine itself.

The objectives of drinking for Chinese can be

various.In history,some objectives known are

as appreciating beautiful scenery,debating,dis-

pelling worries,etc.In Chinese people′s eyes,

wine is more of a communicating tool than a

pure drink;therefore,Chinese wine culture is

focused on the diverse effect brought by drink-

ing wine rather than the theoretical analysis and

appreciation of wine itself.

In western countries,however,the objective

of drinking wine is much simpler,namely sam-

pling and appreciating wine itself.While wine is

a communicating tool as well in west,it is more

treated as purely a drink.What people pursue

by drinking wine is fully enjoying the taste of it.

In drinking,people tend to attach more impor-

tance to the match of wines,dishes and glasses.

Moreover,there is a trend to drink different

wines,such as champagne,dry red wine and dry

white wine in different temperatures.All these

show that people try to fully enjoy the taste of

wine,which is the core of western wine culture,

very much different from its Chinese counter-

part.

4.Conclusion

In studying the differences between western

and Chinese wine cultures,a conclusion as fol-

lowing can be drawn:the differences in Chinese

and Western wine cultures are in effect the dif-

ferences of Chinese and western ways of think-

ing.Chinese people treat wine as a tool in com-

municating.When drinking wine,in order to

stimulate communication,they create many ac-

tivities,and toasting is of great importance in

the customs of drinking wine.This shows the

Chinese divergent way of thinking,which is like

the freehand brushwork in Chinese painting.

While in west,wine is treated simply as a kind

of drink.People drink wine only because it is a

drink that they like.All the drinking customs

and objectives are based on sampling and en-

joying wine itself.Therefore,though western

wine also has the function of stimulating com-

munication,it is relatively weak compared to

Chinese.The core of western wine culture re-

flects their direct way of thinking,which is like

the sketch in western painting.

References：

[1]The Wine Culture Between China and

Western Countries.[OL].

[2]Li,Z.CHINA′S WINE CULTURE.

[M].Beijing:China Intercontinental Press,2010.

[3]He,Z.Chinese Wine Culture.[M].

Shanghai:Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing

House，2001.

作者简介：

王霓（1983—）女，陕西西安人，助教，硕

士，主要研究方向为外语教学及国际贸易。

（责编潘冰）

A Comparison of Chinese and Western Wine Culture

王霓（西安建筑科技大学文学院710055）

高校论坛6