People living the primitive ages made a living by eating birds and animals raw. At the time people know how to utilize fire, they ended the primitive living mode. Then as agriculture developed, not only did people have enough grain to make a living, but also had rest grain to brew the alcoholic with at any time. As pottery appeared, people started to cook with cooking utensils, then specially cooking utensils for the drink separated from the family of cooking utensils. It is hard to decide when the earliest drinking vessels occurred, for during the ancient times, it was rather common for a vessel to be used in different ways. The alcoholic drink of the primitive times belonged to a sort of alcoholic mash, (which is rather popular till now), a non-filtered and thick liquid, as to this kind of alcoholic drink, it is unsuitable to drink, but eat. For this reason, the alcoholic drink for eating could be only used a container to hold, such as bowls and alms bowls with a big mouth. The chief making materials for drinking vessels of the primitive ages were potter-clay, animal horns and bamboo, etc.
As early as 6,000 B.C, during the New-stone Age Culture period, the potter-works for drinking were similar to those of the later times appearing, such as the potter-works of Peiligang Culture Age. The pottery of Hemudu Culture Age in South China reminds us of thinking of the drinking vessels of Shang Dynasty which enjoyed a long history. As the brewing industry developed, due to the drinkers who all enjoyed higher positions in society, there existed a possibility that the drinking vessels separated from common eating containers.
The superior or inferior quality of the drinking vessels symbolized the drinker's position in society. Then appeared special drinking vessel makers. At present, in a Dawenkou Culture Age Tomb in Shangdong Province, a large quantity of vessels for brewing the alcoholic drink were dug up. According to archaeologists' explanation, the dead person was probably a professional drinking vessel maker. During the later period of the New-stone Age, Long- shan Culture Age was especially typical of having big number of drinking vessels and their various uses which have much similarity to those of later times. They include jars, urns, pots, bowls and cups. There are different sorts of drinking cups such as the flat-bottomed cup, the curved- legged cup, the high-curved-legged cup, the high-handled cup, the sloping-wall cup , s-shape bellied cups and other shaped cups..
Drinking Vessels Made of Bronze in Shang and Zhou Dynasties
During shang Dynasty, the technique of making bronze wares had been greatly improved because of the development of brewing industry and the variety and shapes and designs of drinking vessels developed to a never-reached-before level. Among the trades that time appeared "Changshao Clan" and "Weishao Clan" that lived by specially making drinking vessels. Although drinking in Zhou Dynasty was not so popular as that in Shang Dynasty, the styles and crafts of making drinking vessels in general followed those of Shang Dynasty. In Zhou Dynasty, there existed craftsmen who specially made drinking vessels. Bronze-wares originated from Xia Dynasty. The earliest bronze drinking vessels having been discovered till now were the Jue of Erlitou Culture Age of Xia Dynasty, and the making of Bronze-wares developed to the highest level during Shang and Zhou Dynasties and declined during the Autumn-and-Spring Age. The drinking vessels of Shang and Zhou Dynasties enjoyed an exclusive use. Based on ˇ¶Generalization of Bronze wares on Yin and Zhou Dynastiesˇ·, the bronze-wares of Shang and Zhou Dynasties can be divided into the boiling-drink vessel, containing-drink vessel, drinking vessel and storing-drink vessel. Besides them, there was the bronze-ware as a gift. All were made in various shapes and designs. But the main shapes have the designs of Jue and Gu (a kind of goblet) as well as Jia. Even if it was the same drinking vessel, it carried different traces and marks of different historical ages in design and shape. The containing-drink vessel is a kind of vessel used as holding alcoholic drinks for later use. It has many types, chiefly including the following: Zun, Pot, Qu, Min, Jian, Hu, Gong, Weng Bu and Li (All are pronounced in Chinese Pinyin).
Each sort of drinking vessels has various shapes, some are commonly shaped, some are in shapes of animals, Lets take Zun as an example, it was designed in a shape of elephant, or rhinoceros, or ox, or goat or tiger etc.
The drinking vessels mainly includes Gu, Zhi, Jue, Jiao, Cup and Zhou. People sharing different positions and ranks used different drinking vessels, which was clearly stated in ˇ¶Li Ji . Li Qiˇ· that the senior used Zhi and the Junior used Jiao when drinking during the memorial ceremony of ancestral temple..
A heating-drink vessel was a kind of container used to heat the alcoholic drink before having it with a long-handled spoon which made it easy to take out the alcoholic. The heating- drink vessel was sometimes named Zun which was rather popular in Han Dynasty..
In Zeng Houyi Tomb of Suizhou, Hubei Province existed a bronze Jian which could be used to store the alcoholic together with ice, so it was called "Ice Jian."
Paint-coated Drinking Vessels
Since Shang and Zhou Dynasties had been extinct one after another, the bronze drinking vessels gradually died away. During the period of Qin and Han Dynasties, the paint-coated drinking vessels were widely spread in Southern China. The paint-coated drinking vessels were the main type of vessels for drinking during two Powers of Han Dynasty, Wei and Jin Dynasties. The paint-coated drinking-vessels inherited the shape and design of bronze drinking-vessels, they involved the bronze drinking vessel in shape and design, they involved drinking containers and drinking vessels among which most common were the ear-shaped Cups. In eleven Qin Dynasty tombs of Shuihudi, Yunmeng, Hubei Province were dug out 114 ear-shaped-paint-coated drinking cups, in No. One Tomb of Mawangdui Mausoleum, Changsha were dug out 90 ear-shaped-paint- coated drinking vessels as well. In Han Dynasty, while drinking, people usually sat on the ground, with a Zun full of alcoholic drink placing in the middle, in it was a long-handled spoon for taking the alcoholic drink out. All the drinking vessels were low and fat in shape because they were all placed on the ground. The drinking vessels during Wei and Jin Dynasties got thin and tall in shape, for the sitting bed became popular then.
China Drinking Vessels
China appeared around the East Power of Han Dynasty. In comparison of potter-works, China's functions surpassed those of potter- works whether it was used as the brewing alcohol container or it was made drinking vessels. The drinking vessels in Tang Dynasty, compared with those of the past, got much smaller in shape, because of it, someone argued that the distiller occurred during Tang Dynasty. During this period also appeared tables and other drinking vessels suitable to be used on the table such as "Zhuzi" -- a tea-pot-shaped drinking vessel, which was named" Pianti" in Tang Dynasty. As having an opening mouth and a handle, it could be used not only to hold the alcoholic, but pour it into cups. So it took the place of Zun and Shao used in the past. Song Dynasty was the climax in making china, during which, a lot of beautifully-designed-and-made drinking vessels were produced. People of Song Dynasty had a habit of drinking the rice alcoholic drink after it was heated, as a result Zhui and related bowls were made. While drinking, at first, place the Zhui full of rice alcoholic drink into a specially made bowl, then pour into the bowl hot water which can warm the alcoholic. China drinking vessels have been kept using till now. The china wares of Ming Dynasty had a feature of blue-flowered designs, reddish-colored and dark-red colored designs. Qing Dynasty's china-wares featured richly- colored design, slight-and-simple-colored design tiny, and graceful blue flowered design, and imitating ancient style designs as well.
Other Drinking Vessels
In the history of our China, there existed some drinking vessels made of peculiar materials and made in peculiar designs and shapes. Although they were not popular and their quantity was very few, they possess a highly-appreciated value, such as the drinking vessels made of gold, silver, ivory, jade stone and cloisonn. Luminous Cup: Wang Han, a famous poet of Tang Dynasty, wrote a well -popular line saying," A luminous cup and tasteful grape wine in it shining upon each other." A Luminous cup is a kind of highly- valued cup made of jade, which can be copied nowadays.
Alcohol-Flowing-backward Pot: In Shanxi Province Museum there exists a alcohol-flowing-backward pot made of china, produced by Yaozhou kilin in North Song Dynasty. The drinking pot is 19cm high, with its belly 14.3cm in diameter and a lid useless only for decoration. There is a tiny hole in the middle of its bottom. When the pot's bottom is downside up, the alcoholic is poured in through the hole which is linked to a separating-water pipe in the middle of the pot, and a hole on the separating-water pipe higher than the highest level of the alcoholic. When the pot is placed in the right side, there is no alcoholic drink dripping through the hole at the bottom. A separating-water pipe is also placed under the pot mouth, so no drink can flow out of it when the drink being poured in. The design of the cup can be ranked above god's cleverness.
Yuanyang Two-way Rotating Pot
It was used in the Imperial Palace of Song Dynasty. The pot could pour out two different drinks by turning in different two ways.
Justice Cup with Nine Dragons Carved on
It was produced in Song Dynasty. On the upper part is a cup within which there is a dragon carved holding the head up, and on the other parts were carved eight dragons. It's why the cup is named Nine-dragon Cup. At the bottom of the cup was a disc and a hollow base. When the alcoholic being poured into it, and the quantity doesn't exceed a certain limit, there is no drops of the alcoholic dripping down, if the quantity poured into the cup goes over the limit, it will be sucked into the hollow base through the body of dragon, for this reason it was named Justice Cup.
Dushan Giant Jade Jar
It was a giant jade jar carved out of a whole big piece of colorful dark jade stone, only used for containing and storing alcoholic drinks . It is five meters in circumference, with oceanic dragons and animals coming in and out among sea waves carved on all sides, their figures and designs vivid in shape, and great and tremendous in momentum, and it is 3,500 kgs in weight and can hold 1500 kgs of alcoholic drink. It was said the giant jade jar was transported from the other place and then placed on Qionghua Island by Hu Bilie, founder of Yuan Dynasty, who ordered his men to transport it to here in 1286, and used to store the alcoholic to entertain the meritorious generals and ministers in founding his empire. Nowadays it is kept in Qiantuan City of Beihai Park in Beijing.
Modern technology of brewing alcoholic drinks and liquors and living mode throw remarkable influence on drinking vessels. From the beginning of 20th century on, the self- brewing and self- consuming production mode which had lasted for severed thousand years was getting obsolete and dying out due to the rapid development of brewing -alcohol-drinks industry. In modern distilleries and wineries and breweries, the alcoholic is usually packed in bottles and jars, as to beer, it is mainly packed in bottles, buckets and tins etc. Before the 70s and 80s during which people's living standard was relatively low, people of most countryside and parts of municipal districts generally self prepared drinking vessels if buying the alcoholic contained in jars. But in a short period , the bottle- packed alcoholic has been popular and so the drinking vessels used before in ordinary households have been obsolete and dying out. As to drinking- wares they seemly remain unchangeable. Of course in some areas, there still remains the self-brewing and self-consuming production mode, which becomes a tiny part during the recent decades
Great changes have been taking place during the recent decades as to sorts of drinking vessels and wares being used among the people. Over ten years before, the highly-alcoholic liquor was consumed in a large quantity whether over the large countryside or in cities while drinking of rice alcoholic drink was popular over Southeast China. The output of beer was small in quantity before 80s. But after 80s, the output of beer has been shooting up, ranking the first in quantity among all sorts of alcoholic drinks, and the consumption of grape wine. Brandy and Whisky has always been relatively small. The feature of consuming the alcoholic decides the characteristics of drinking vessels in this period as follows:
The small sized drinking cups are rather popular, which are mainly used for drinking white alcoholic liquids. Glass and china are mainly materials which are used to make drinking vessels. During the recent years, some drinking vessels are made of jade and stainless steel.
The medial-sized drinking vessels can be used as both tea- vessels and drinking vessels, such as drinking vessels for beer and grape wine, they are mainly made of the transparent glass.
In order to stimulate the sales of the alcoholic, some producers of the alcoholic designed their containers in the shape of drinking cups, which is greatly favored by consumers. After the alcoholic being drunk up, the container can be also used as the cup. With the improvement of living standard, tins of beer are getting more and more popular, tins for holding beer are a typical example combining the packing container with drinking-wares.
