Volume 1 — CHAPTER XXIX.
Henry Yule translation
Concerning the Rice-Wine drunk by the people of Cathay.
Most of the people of Cathay drink wine of the kind that I shall now describe. It is a liquor which they brew of rice with a quantity of excellent spice, in such fashion that it makes better drink than any other kind of wine; it is not only good, but clear and pleasing to the eye.{1} And being very hot stuff, it makes one drunk sooner than any other wine.
Dr. Emil Bretschneider (Botanicon Sinicum, ii. pp. 154–158) gives a most interesting account of the use and fabrication of intoxicating beverages by the Chinese. “The invention of wine or spirits in China,” he says, “is generally ascribed to a certain I ti, who lived in the time of the Emperor Yü. According to others, the inventor of wine was Tu K’ang.” One may refer also to Dr. Macgowan’s paper On the “Mutton Wine” of the Mongols and Analogous Preparations of the Chinese. (Jour. N. China Br. R. As. Soc., 1871–1872, pp. 237–240.)—H. C.]