China Cafe Lecture - 12-2-07
In this week’s China Cafe lecture, students learned about the stories, customs, drinking etiquette, and culture surrounding the use of Chinese alcohol. These customs emerged over the course of 5,000 years of cultural development. We learned that, based on the sweetness, there are five classifications of Chinese alcohol - dried, semi-dried, semi-sweet, sweet, and heavily sweet. We also learned that there are four general purposes to drink alcohol - to show esteem, for a memorial service, as a tasting event, and as drinking-up. To see the full lecture information, visit the Crane Hall Library on the second floor of the China Cafe. We ended the class with several discussion questions, in which students from around the world shared a bit about their drinking customs. We also all received some virtual mao-tai, a famous Chinese alcoholic beverage.
