Tastes in the Jade Flagons: Alcohol Tasting and the Reconstruction of Late Imperial Chinese Literati Identity, 15th-18th Centuries

Abstract

ABSTRACT Commercialization in the Ming and Qing dynasties caused profound changes to China’s conventional hierarchies in multiple respects. This article examines literati and popular writings about drinking between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries as competing views of good taste for alcoholic beverages emerged among scholars. Many prominent writers, officials, and connoisseurs developed a taste for alcoholic drinks, such as the distilled spirits that were often associated with the non-elite classes. Some literati even operated breweries and distilleries. By focusing on the works of connoisseurs like Yuan Mei, I argue that ordinary people’s taste for food and drinks helped constitute Ming-Qing literati elites’ identities and sensibilities. Contrary to historians Craig Clunas and Wu Renshu, who argue that the dichotomy of literati elegance and non-elite vulgarity preserved social hierarchies, this article presents a more contested history of taste formation in late imperial society and questions the position of literati taste in broader sociocultural transformations.