A Comparison between China and Western countries on Wine
Culture
Wine culture is a symbol of country’s culture, history, lifestyle and sprits than just kind of drinks for pleasure in real life. It plays an important role in and great influencing on both Chinese and western counties’ people life. However, the wine culture shows us various styles in different places, especially in between china and western countries. This essay based on the origins of wine; the kinds of wine; how to make wine; the purpose of drinking wine; the drinking etiquettes to analyses the similarities and the differences between china and western countries.
On the one hand, when we focus on history, we can easily find that both China and western countries' wine culture have some similarities in the process of forming wine culture.
Firstly, both China and western countries share the similar way of making wine---the brew methods. People firstly prepare all brewing raw materials; some of them need peeling, soaking, squeezing or something else. Then control the suitable temperature for the purpose of letting them ferment. After fermentation, people also cut wine and clarify. The final step is to set the wine aside for some time. After all these steps, fragrant wine brewing is finished. Also, some wine may need other steps.
Secondly, both China and western countries have the same kind of wine. As we know, in ancient China, fruit wine is so popular among people. People use the grapes, apples and oranges and so on. Similar with china, western countries, they also have the fruit wine, such as the Wine in France and the Rum which formed by the yeasty sugarcane.
On the other hand, considering with the origins of wine, the purpose of drinking wine; the drinking etiquettes, there are some differences between China and western countries.
Foremost, when we talk about the origin of wine, Chinese claims that wine is brewed with many kinds of technology by people, while the westerners think wine is originally created by god.
In
Chinese history, it is of long standing, and the old sayings about the born of wine are a lot. However, generally speaking, people prefer to consider the saying of Du Kang brewing wine is correct. However, there are a lot of origins in the west, but mostly thought that wine is created by god, and it is the gift for humane given by god. the ancient Egyptian think wine is made by Osiris who protects the dead, and Greece people think wine is brought by the god of wine named Dionysus, it is not only the gift given given by the god of wine, but also the symbol of people’s harvest.
Next, the things people concerning when they are drinking are
different between China and western countries. Chinese people pay much attention to respecting people. They drink wine regardless of the smell, the color and the flavor. But pay more attention to the people who they are drink together. Unlike China, people in western countries care more about the wine, showing the respect for the wine. They often watch the color of the wine and smell it seriously before they drink.
Then, the purpose of drinking wine is different. In China, wine is usually more of a kind of tool than wine itself. Because Chinese people drink wine for many other aims, not to enjoy the taste of wine simply. They often drink to drown their sorrows, or to add to their fun, even drink it as a tool for communication. However, in many western countries, people drink wine just for wine’s sake. They drink to appreciate good wine, to enjoy it. We cannot deny that drinking wine also has the effect of adding pleasure when communicating in western countries.
Finally, the Chinese drinking etiquettes are different from the western countries. When one needs to propose a toast, he usually toasts to the old man or those in high position first. And besides, the glass must be filled with wine. The whole toast has a particular regularity and strong interactivity. When westerners drink together such as a party, the host toasts the guests to thank the
presence and hope them enjoy the party. After that, other time is free for all guests; they can find their own partner to propose a toast and chat.
By comparing Chinese and western culture of wine, we found that although Chinese and western not only have their own distinguishing
feature in the wine culture, but also
have the
similarities. People’s love to wine is the same. From the substance point of view, wine play an important role in human communication; from the perspective of culture, wine symbolized the culture features of nation, and it becomes a delicacy for the national cultural feast. We can say, wine makes a bridge for the intercommunications between countries and countries. In addition, it helps people understand different culture deeply so that we can have a better intercultural communication.
A comparison between China and Western countries on Wine Culture
