C. a humane Chinese emperor (of Taoist principles) ordered the
discontinuance of the practice may be thought to give colour to
this supposition. But it must be remembered that the great house
of Han had only then recently overthrown the dynasty of Ts'in, and
had incorporated nearly the whole of China as we now view it: the
Emperor would naturally therefore be referring to Ts'i, Ts'in,
Ts'u, and possibly also to Wu and Yueeh, three of which states had,
as we see, once practised this cruel custom.
Wine, or rather spirit, was known everywhere; in Confucian times
the Far West had not yet been discovered, and there were neither
grapes nor any names for grapes; no grape wine, nor any other
fruit wine. Even now, though the Peking grapes are as good as
English grapes, no one nearer than Shan Shi makes wine from them.
Spirits seem to have been served from remote times at the imperial
and princely feasts. Here, once more, as with the two vicious
practices described, the drunkards appear to be found more among
those peoples surrounding orthodox China than in the ancient
nucleus.
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