The Republic of Wine

Liquorville is the liquor of history; the liquor of Liquorville is soaked in the classics of Han culture.
    Comrades, the liars have overlooked the common knowledge that the distilled spirits in their bottles first appeared in the Han dynasty, and that only fermented spirits were available during the reign of the Great Yu. The Han dynasty brick paintings prove that a revolution in the production of alcohol was launched right here in Liquorland.
    Friends, just as water flows day and night in Sweet Spring River, the fine liquor of Liquorville flowed uninterrupted for a long time, eventually entering an age of maturity. In the early years of the Qing dynasty, a distillery by the name of Great Blessings appeared, as did a liquor of unknown origins named Charming Gaits. From this emerged a distillery called Blessings and Charm, which produced Liquorville’s finest brew: Great Clouds and Rain.
    Legend has it that during the Shunzhi reign of the Qing lived a petty innkeeper by the name of Yuan Yi, whose honorific was Sanliu, or Three Six. He began by selling liquor, then went into the distilling business. Expert at assimilating the traditional technologies of Liquorville’s distillers, he aspired to become famous in the distiller’s art. Unhappily, he died before he could realize his ambitions. Not until his great-great grandson’s generation would his cherished wish come true. During the Qianlong Emperor’s reign in the Qing dynasty, Yuan’s great-great grandson, whose name was Jiuwu, or Nine Five, called upon his ancestor’s experience and his own rich understanding of the marketplace to set up shop on Daughter’s Well Street by the Temple of the Immortal Matron out beyond Liquorville’s East Gate.
    Rumor had it that the eye of the sea existed beneath the Temple of the Immortal Matron, and that if it were ever disturbed, Liquorville would fall into the sea. In order to avert a watery disaster, the people pooled their money to erect a temple, then built a golden Matron and placed her atop the eye of the sea. Clouds of incense smoke filled the Temple of the Immortal Matron, especially on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. On that day, a festive atmosphere accompanied the burning of incense. Young ladies from good families came out in droves, as did roughnecks who mingled with them to fondle their breasts and pinch their bottoms, eliciting shrieks of protest. Truly this was a treasured place to buy and sell liquor - the feng shui was just right. So Nine Five Yuan bought a piece of land near the Temple of the Immortal Matron and set up shop under the name Blessings and Charm. He also built a distillery beside Daughter’s Well.
    Daughter’s Well was only one li distant from the Temple of the Immortal Matron. Its water came from Sweet Spring River; after passing through the natural filtration of sand and rocks, it bubbled up clear, sweet, and icy cold. It was considered Liquorville’s finest well. Popular legend had it that a beautiful woman had drowned in the well, and that after her death she turned into a cloud that enveloped the well and would not disperse. But Yuan’s great-great grandson had not forgotten that Daughter’s Well had been the source of fine water for Charming Gaits of an earlier era; not only was he a master of the distiller’s art, but, naturally, a man of superior historical vision as well Drawing on the water from Daughter’s Well for his new brew was significant for Blessings and Charm not only because ‘water is the lifeblood of liquor,’ but also because it had produced Charming Gaits, and, even more significantly, since ‘the gods are the soul of liquor,’ it contained the richness of historical culture.
    Extraordinary ambition, extraordinary skills, and extraordinary well water led naturally to extraordinary beginnings. Great Clouds and Rain had no sooner come on the market than it was proclaimed a great success. Blessings and Charm was as busy as a marketplace, with workers and scholars and old hands and petty hooligans beating a path to the door. A poet by the name of Li Sandou -Three-Pint Li - wrote two poems in praise of the qualities of Great Clouds and Rain. Here they are:
Spring has long dwelt in the Temple of the Immortal Matron, Fragrant well water is transformed into puffy clouds. The face of a beautiful woman is a sight to behold, But a great brew has a man in its thrall.
With water for clothing and a cloud as his face, Liu Ling lies naked, drunk as a lord. Having