Food Literature
Wine and Literature in Ancient China
Liang, Yifan
In his poem “Tiffing Wine (The Second)”, Tao Yuan Ming did not even use a word of wine at all. Instead, he described a tranquil scene of himself living in the countryside--walking out of the cottage, picking the chrysanthemum flower, watching the mountains, the sunset, the flying birds; and also, the inexistence of horse and vehicle noise and his satisfaction of leading a life like this. We suggest that he was drinking wine when doing and thinking all these things and the wine just added to the fun of it which made him compose this poem. In fact, Tao Yuan Ming is famous for drinking wine and he is the first poet who has been writing a large amount of poems on wine drinking and scenery. And this poem is the most well-known one of a series of his wine-drinking poems naming “Tiffing Wine”. But there are still more things in this opus. Despite the descriptive, recording words and rhymes, Tao Yuan Ming also conveyed meanings in his poem. He makes the readers feel the enjoyment of country life, as well as, a personal feeling and likes of himself.
Foodsion/April, 2014 47