Wine and Food

AnonymousJinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) · ChinaJun 2024

2.9

Word count: 2.4K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Wine and Food: wine and dishes. Wei Jia, whose family fortune amounted to a thousand pieces of gold, was learned and skilled in writing. He had an old servant who was good at judging water, and he often had him ride in a small boat on the Yellow River, catching the water from the river's source in a gourd; in a single day it came to no more than seven or eight sheng. After a night, the water in the vessel turned red like crimson, and was used to brew wine named Kunlun Goblet. Its fragrance and flavor were unmatched in the world. He once presented thirty hu of it to Emperor Zhuang of Wei.

Editor's review

This text, titled 'Wine and Food,' though of unknown authorship, preserves a rather unusual anecdote about brewing: Wei Jia was wealthy and learned and wrote widely; an old servant in his household was good at judging water and often took a small boat onto the Yellow River, catching water from the river's source in a gourd, obtaining only seven or eight sheng a day. After a night, the water in the vessel turned red as crimson; used for brewing, it was called Kunlun Goblet, and the wine's fragrance was peerless. Thirty hu were once presented to Emperor Zhuang of Wei. The whole text is short but information-dense, covering water gathering, water judging, color development, naming, and presentation; it combines the appeal of tales of the strange with records of famous products, making it a vivid piece of material for understanding ancient wine culture and ideas about water sources. This edition, printed by Shanghai Jinzhang Book Company, is easy to handle and suits casual short reading. Readers may note ancient people's fastidiousness about water quality, the imaginative description of brewing steps, and the cultural associations behind the name 'Kunlun Goblet.' It is not to be read as a systematic history of wine, but as an amusing ancient anecdote of food and drink it is enough to stir curiosity about traditional brewing and lore of famous products.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Casual readers interested in ancient wine culture and food lore
Readers who enjoy short note-style texts and prefer strange tales and anecdotes
Content creators who need traditional material on famous objects for writing or lecturing
Ordinary readers who want to use fragmented time to read an ancient anecdote

Not a good fit for

Readers who need systematic brewing knowledge or practical guidance
Researchers who require a clear author, textual transmission, and scholarly verification

Reading tips

First read through the whole text to clarify the sequence of fetching water, brewing wine, and presenting it, then go back to the details and wording.
Read it as a short note-style piece, paying attention to the balance between exaggeration and realism in the narrative.
After reading, look up common knowledge about ancient wine names and water-fetching customs to broaden your understanding of the background.
It is suitable for reading alongside similar food anecdotes to compare the different pleasures of the records.

About the publisher

Jinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) China · Founded in 1901

Jinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) was a private publishing and distribution house in Shanghai during the late Qing and early Republican periods, issuing traditional works by lithographic printing. Judging from the 1,194 titles in the collection, its publishing focused on classical poetry, Eastern philosophy, historical reading, traditional Chinese medical texts, and canonical works, along with books on literary appreciation. Representative titles include the poetry and prose collections of Du Fu and Ouyang Xiu; historical works such as the Book of Han and Zizhi Tongjian; classical texts such as the Book of Documents and Mencius; and specialized and literary classics such as Treatise on Cold Damage and Li Sao. Its author resources cover major figures across the ages, including Du Fu, Ban Gu, Sima Guang, Zhang Zhongjing, Qu Yuan, Ouyang Xiu, and Tang Shenwei, reflecting the house's characteristic reliance on traditional scholarship and medical literature while serving general readers. Public information on its early history and operational details is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.

版权信息
卷七酒食

FAQ

Why is the author of this text anonymous?

The material shows the author is anonymous, indicating that the extant text has left no confirmable information about its writer. Readers need not worry about the author's identity; it can be read as a transmitted ancient food anecdote, with the focus on the record of fetching water, brewing wine, and Kunlun Goblet itself.

Is Kunlun Goblet a real ancient famous wine?

The material clearly records brewing wine with water from the river's source, its color red like crimson, the name Kunlun Goblet, and that it was presented to Emperor Zhuang of Wei. This belongs to records of famous objects in ancient literature; readers may regard it as an anecdote in traditional wine culture, and specific craftsmanship and historical details should be judged in light of more sources.

Is this short text suitable as writing material?

Yes. Details such as judging water, taking a boat to fetch water, the water turning red, and presenting thirty hu are concrete and vivid, and can be used as material for discussing ancient food, ideas about water quality, or the naming of famous objects. When citing it, note its anonymous note-like nature and avoid treating it as a solid craft record.

What should I know in advance to read this text?

No special preparation is needed. It is enough to know that it is a short ancient note-style text. While reading, pay attention to key descriptions such as "the old servant was good at judging water," "catching the water from the river's source in a gourd," and "the color red like crimson"; first grasp the story's thread, then appreciate the ancients' attention to and imagination about water and wine.

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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.