Alcoholism in Wuxia

[smurf120]

Many famous alcoholics in wuxia stories.

How acceptable is drinking in ancient China? A doctor friend has been trying to convince me that most Asians are born without the enzyme to digest alcohol causing the notorious "red face" problem with low tolerance.

How would the drinking level of Qu Feng stack up to an average European person?

[flamer]

Xiao Feng would definitely pwn any European in drinking. He drank what... 40 large bowls of high alcohol content Chinese wine. And he was nowhere near satisfied.

[resident:alien]

Linghu Chong?

[TiffTiff]

Dagger Li ? I don't know the Chinese name for him

[tape]

Dagger Li is more of a true alcoholic than someone like Xiao Feng, who Jin Yong makes drink a ton to show how powerful/macho he is. Li drinks slowly everyday to get drunk and dull the pain.

[pannonian]

Dagger Li is more of a true alcoholic than someone like Xiao Feng, who Jin Yong makes drink a ton to show how powerful/macho he is. Li drinks slowly everyday to get drunk and dull the pain.

Sounds like Linghu Chong.

[sniffles]

Sounds like Linghu Chong.

He likes to drink, but doesn't seem to drink to purposefully get drunk, and though he misses wine when he doesn't have any he doesn't seem go through any kind of withdrawal if he has to do without. I'm not sure I'd call him an actual alcoholic.

[pannonian]

He likes to drink, but doesn't seem to drink to purposefully get drunk, and though he misses wine when he doesn't have any he doesn't seem go through any kind of withdrawal if he has to do without. I'm not sure I'd call him an actual alcoholic.

When he was escorting the nuns back to Hengshan after the departure of their headmaster, he drank himself silly regularly. Later, after he became headmaster, he again drank himself into a stupor out of boredom.

[sniffles]

When he was escorting the nuns back to Hengshan after the departure of their headmaster, he drank himself silly regularly. Later, after he became headmaster, he again drank himself into a stupor out of boredom.

True. He wasn't very happy then, so he was trying to drown his sorrows. He is a bit of a drunkard.

[CC]

I think GL modelled LXH after his own alcoholism. Which is why he hyped LXH the most in his writings.

[smurf120]

so are these people heroic because of their drinking? It would seem so as it is used to describe Xiao Feng's power and masculinity. Also used to establish Linghu Chong's wild, carefree aura and big personality.

[Lifeburner]

I believe that in ancient China, the strength of a person was measured, if not through a brawl, by the amount of food they eat and wine they drink. This was shown in Romance of The Three Kingdoms, when Huang Hansheng referred to his own strength by saying that he could still eat several (I forget how much) portions of meat, when Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei questioned his power. It is also known that many strong generals were heavy drinkers (no, I don't mean Zhang Fei, he's simply a drunkard).

[sniffles]

so are these people heroic because of their drinking? It would seem so as it is used to describe Xiao Feng's power and masculinity. Also used to establish Linghu Chong's wild, carefree aura and big personality.

I don't personally think they're heroic because of their drinking. I think it's the other way around - they're able to be heavy drinkers because of their heroic natures. They do everything in an exaggerated manner.

There's been a view in many cultures that men who could "hold their liquor" were more masculine than other men. And in many cultures people drank alcoholic beverages regularly because the water was polluted by animal and human waste and wasn't safe to drink.