Proclamation on Wine

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaAug 2020

4.7

Word count: 923 words
Chapters: 7

Summary

The Jiu Gao comes from the "Zhou Shu" section of the Book of Documents and is attributed to Duke Zhou Dan. It is China's first prohibition order against alcohol. The Book of Documents, abbreviated as the Shu, is a pre-Qin classic and one of the Five Classics among the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism. It is the first collection of classical prose and the earliest historical documents of the Han Chinese people, consisting mainly of records of speeches.

Editor's review

The Jiu Gao comes from the "Zhou Shu" section of the Book of Documents and is traditionally attributed to Duke Zhou Dan. It is the earliest extant prohibition document against alcohol in China and a key text for understanding the political ethics and ritual-legal order of the early Zhou. The 2020 Bashu Publishing House edition provides readers with a convenient modern collated edition, suitable as a concrete entry point into the Book of Documents, a Confucian classic. The core value of this piece lies not in literary flourish but in its linking of the issue of drinking to state governance, reverence for virtue, and compassion for the people, presenting the practical logic of "matching Heaven with virtue" in early political thought. In reading, one sees Duke Zhou's reflection on the Yin-Shang dynasty's downfall through drunkenness and his distinctions regarding the limits of drinking for people of different statuses, clearly layered and earnestly argued. For readers who wish to understand pre-Qin historical documents, Confucian classics, or the governance of drinking culture in ancient China, this is a text of modest length but high information density, suitable for close reading and comparative study, and also as a warm-up for reading other chapters of the Book of Documents.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners interested in the Book of Documents and pre-Qin historical documents who wish to start with short pieces
Readers researching ancient Chinese ritual law, prohibition policies, and the origins of drinking culture
Students of Chinese or history who need selected readings from Confucian classics
Readers who enjoy close reading of classical original texts and care about the annotation tradition

Not a good fit for

Casual readers expecting light stories or popular fiction
Beginners lacking a foundation in classical Chinese who are unwilling to use annotations
Readers who only want to understand modern prohibition policies and have no interest in ancient texts

Reading tips

First read through the original text once without rushing to understand every character, grasping the overall tone and layers of Duke Zhou's admonition.
On the second pass, work through it sentence by sentence with the annotations, focusing on the differences in drinking regulations for people of different statuses.
Read it alongside related early Zhou admonitions in the Book of Documents to understand the line of argument in the Zhou people's reflection on the fall of Yin.
After reading, summarize the reasons for prohibition in this piece in your own words to test whether you have truly grasped the argumentative structure.

About the publisher

Bashu Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.

版权信息
周书·酒诰第十二
正文一
正文二
正文三
正文四
正文五

FAQ

Is the author of the Jiu Gao Duke Zhou Dan?

Sources indicate that the Jiu Gao comes from the "Zhou Shu" section of the Book of Documents and that its author is Duke Zhou Dan. Traditionally this piece is regarded as Duke Zhou's admonition to Kang Shu, but as a pre-Qin document its composition and transmission are relatively complex; when reading, one may understand it in the political context of the early Zhou without insisting on a single definitive authorship.

Can someone without a foundation in classical Chinese read the Jiu Gao?

It is worth a try, but a collated edition with annotations and translation is recommended—read the annotations first, then return to the original. The piece is not long and its sentence patterns are not among the most difficult, so progressing sentence by sentence with reference works is feasible; if one is completely unwilling to engage with classical Chinese, the reading experience will be rather laborious.

Why is the Jiu Gao regarded as China's first prohibition order?

Sources describe it as China's first prohibition order. It does not simply ban drinking but ties drinking behavior to political success and failure and to moral cultivation, distinguishing occasions and groups and imposing restraints accordingly, reflecting the early state's way of governing society through ritual and law; it is thus a landmark in the history of drinking culture.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.