https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5150-4861
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ABSTRACT
Against a backdrop where since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, there has been little political, policy, policing or popular resonances of alcohol, drinking, drunkenness as being problematic, this paper explores ambivalence toward strangers, avoidance of social mixing and sensitivity to integrational socio-spatial relations as key to understanding the lives of young people. Presenting ethnographic research from diverse public spaces and commercial venues we interrogate Chinese scholars’ discussion of 公gong /私si (public/private) relations with reference to international literature on encounter and friendship. Discussing differences, similarities, connectivities and mobilities between our study and depictions of “moral panic”, “risky behaviour”, violence and disorder and/or conviviality, sociability and celebratory “rites of passage” to adulthood in cities across the global North/South, we signpost fruitful and innovative new directions for relational comparison of alcohol, drinking, drunkenness no matter where research is undertaken.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Nathan McClintock and the reviewers for their advice, guidance and insightful comments, the School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University for funding this research and Cao Liu for undertaking some translation work. Mark would also like to thank Wu Siying for critical reflections on various drafts of this paper and Chinese National Social Science Foundation funding: 18XZW004 - Mobilities Theory and Practice in Contemporary Western Criticism 当代西方批评中的“移动性”理论与实践研究 (西部项目)
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. During in-depth interviews 6 respondents suggested they did not drink alcohol. However, with researchers following schedules for “non-drinkers” it became evident that these “non-drinkers” regularly consumed alcohol. Well documented in studies from the Global North, it was nonetheless clear this was not “under-reporting” (Stockwell et al., 2004) but respondents “defining/expressing” times/spaces/practices regarding “drinking/non-drinking” that did not relate to whether alcohol was consumed.
2. Legend suggests that Yi Di, wife of the first dynasty’s King Yu was “the mother of alcohol”, although other accounts suggest a boy called Du Kan, during the Zhou Dynasty left some rice in the hollow of a mulberry tree that fermented, leading to the first commercial production of rice wine. Alcohol features in numerous (non)fictional accounts e.g. Li Bai, the most famous poet of the Tang (607-907 BCE) dynasty describes taverns run by “western girls”. Confucius, often associated with moderate drinking also celebrated unrestrained drunkenness of hardworking agricultural workers in enabling a balance between duty/leisure (Sterckx, Citation2015, p. 23).
3. E.g. the State of Qin (217 BCE) placed restrictions on alcohol and imposed heavy taxes; 180 BCE emperor Han Wendi granted drinking amnesties for 5 days a month, but Han law stipulated more than 3 people gathering to drinking “for no particular reason” should be subject to a fine; in the year 98 BCE the Han Court unsuccessfully tried to impose a monopoly on alcohol production; and a century later in 10 CE, government official urged the court of Wang Man to adopt the same policy (Sterckx, Citation2015, p. 10). Sterckx (Citation2015, p. 23) highlights alcohol was at the heart of “moral decay” and demise of China’s first dynasty “the Shang”; and to the importance of reciprocal drunkenness and examples where people refusing to join toasting during sacrifices were subject to legal complaints.
4. Comparison of historical sources suggest “public houses” and (jiu guan 酒馆) “taverns” were both “private-houses” selling food and drink to customers/travelers prior to varying degrees of formal separation of production/preparation and consumption.
5. Other important material/social relations include: beer (and red wine) to last the duration of dinner are ordered at the beginning of the meal, once an agreement on how much alcohol was needed for all participants (additions are made if supplies run low) and are placed on, next to, or beneath the table with space at a premium due to the number of food dishes. Empty bottles of alcohol are left on/underneath tables and not cleared away until the meal has ended.