The 'High Mountain Flowing Water' Toast in Dong Villages: China's Most Passionate Drinking Ritual That Most People Can't Handle
Chinese people are fond of alcohol, and the drinking culture has a long history. Different regions have their own drinking games and welcome toasts. In my opinion, the most famous are the 'Dismount Wine' on the northern grasslands and the 'High Mountain Flowing Water' in central and western China. While we say central and western regions, it is mainly concentrated in the ethnic minority areas of the Dong, Miao, and other groups in northwestern Guangxi, western Hunan, Guizhou, and southeastern Chongqing.
Recently, Yu Fan traveled to Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County in Liuzhou, Guangxi, and once again experienced this incredibly enthusiastic toasting ritual. The Dong people are one of China's ethnic minorities with a history spanning thousands of years, having condensed their unique culture over time. Among the Dong culture, there are six most famous treasures, and rice wine is one of them.
The Dong people enjoy drinking oil tea and rice wine, and 'High Mountain Flowing Water' is a way of drinking. When guests come from afar, they not only entertain them with oil tea but also toast them with the High Mountain Flowing Water ritual.
Rice wine is brewed by the Dong people themselves in their original ecological villages. The wine is sweet and fragrant, with a long history of brewing, unique brewing techniques, outstanding advantages of the pristine ecological environment, and is green and healthy. The Dong ethnic customs are strong, and the people are hospitable. Rice wine, as an important part of local ethnic minority daily life, has formed a unique and rich minority wine culture. Since ancient times, there has been the rule: 'No wine, no courtesy; no wine, no banquet.'
The Dong are a people good at singing and dancing. They have a language but no written script, so much of their culture needs to be expressed through song and dance. Therefore, when drinking the High Mountain Flowing Water, they also sing while toasting, as if songs are the enhancers of wine, thus deriving a rich variety of drinking songs.
Drinking while singing is not only a form of entertainment but also a drinking custom for Dong people to communicate. Young men and women gather to drink, using drinking songs to express their aspirations and love; friends gather to drink, enhancing their feelings, singing to express emotions, and dispelling inner loneliness and worries; different generations gather to drink, imparting knowledge, asking questions, discussing the present and the past, enjoying harmony. There are many types of Dong drinking songs, sung according to the occasion: a full-moon song for a child's one-month celebration, a wedding song for a marriage, a birthday song for a birthday, etc. Different drinking songs express different customs.
In the Dong mountain villages, a Dong sister told us that High Mountain Flowing Water is their highest etiquette for entertaining distinguished guests. For ordinary families, there may be four or five people; when there is a village event, ten to twenty people will stand on both sides of the honored guest, arranging wine pots from low to high in the middle, pouring wine into the guest's bowl like a high mountain flowing water.
There are many rules in this process. The toasting sisters will pinch the guest's ears, saying it is to send blessings. The guest's hands cannot touch the wine bowl; if both hands touch the bowl, the drink doesn't count. The guest cannot stand up; if they lift their buttocks, the drinking starts over. Actually, these rules are to prevent the guest from standing up or pushing the bowl away and interrupting the High Mountain Flowing Water. Because they sing during the toasting, the singing must not stop, and the drinking must not stop, so most people really cannot handle it. Have you experienced this enthusiastic Dong toasting etiquette? Let's share your feelings and opinions.
