At the same time, Cao Cao also made up his mind to promulgate a ban on alcohol because of food problems and to rectify folk customs. As a result, as soon as the prohibition of alcohol was issued, Shaofu Kong Rong was the first to come out to oppose it. Kong Rong is a descendant of Confucius. He was originally a prince, but he has been rebellious since he took refuge with Cao Cao. Although he was very talented, he was a drunkard. He once wrote a bold poem: "When I return home, I have a lot of drinking debts, and my guests are very charming. I amaze everyone with my eloquent talk, and drink thousands of glasses of wine overnight."
Kong Rong’s opposition to the alcohol prohibition was not only manifested in making loud noises in the court, but also wrote a voluminous article "Book on the Alcohol Prohibition" and published it publicly to make fun of Cao Cao , he opposed the prohibition of alcohol by enumerating: There are stars in the sky called "Jiuqi", and there is a county called "Jiuquan" on the ground. Does banning alcohol require the names of the stars in the sky and the Jiuquan County on the ground to be renamed? Fan Kuai borrowed the power of drinking. To save Pei Gong, Pei Gong used the strength of wine to kill the white snake. Emperor Jing and Yuan An were both good drinkers, but Qu Yuan did not drink. As a result, he suffered bad luck in Chu State. Therefore, Kong Rong came to the conclusion: "From this point of view, how can wine be inferior to politics!"
As soon as this article came out, Cao Cao immediately published an article to fight back, listing the examples of the subjugated kings in the past dynasties who were addicted to wine and disrupted the government. As a rebuttal. Kong Rong wrote another sharper article in response: In history, there were monarchs who destroyed their country because of their excessive benevolence and humility. Should we also ban benevolence and humility? When the state of Lu perished because it admired literature too much, was it right? Should people be banned from writing? Both the Xia and Shang dynasties perished because of their doting on women, so is it necessary to ban marriage? Cao Cao was speechless about this. Although the debate on prohibition made Kong Rong ultimately pay the price with his life, these splendid articles on prohibition and anti-prohibition have been passed down through the ages and have become tidbits in the history of prohibition.
Discuss the debate between the wine system and the wine tax system
There is also a widespread prohibition on alcohol in the history of our country, not only to save food, but also to increase national fiscal revenue. The first person to impose heavy taxes on wine was Shang Yang. He did not explicitly prohibit the brewing and selling of wine, but proposed that the government impose an additional tax of ten times the cost of wine. Therefore, wine is a bit too luxurious for the people of Qin. In the third year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to solve the growing military expenditure, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty announced the implementation of a disguised alcohol prohibition - the "Qiejiu" system, that is, the government should monopolize alcohol, and private brewing and selling of alcohol were prohibited. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty relied on the military expenses obtained from "selling wine" to fight in the south and north, and established immortal achievements.
The wine system developed later and evolved into the "tax wine" system. Ganjiu refers to all compradors of the government, while taxed wine is operated by private merchants, and the government is only responsible for collecting taxes. Throughout the history of Chinese dynasties, the prohibition laws on alcohol have been wandering between the three systems of prohibiting alcohol, banning alcohol, and taxing alcohol. The system of quenjiu initiated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty lasted for 17 years. Later, it was changed to a taxed wine system because of the inability to control folk smuggling. When Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, the taxed wine was changed back to quenjiu. After Liu Xiu defeated Wang Mang, it was restored again. Liquor tax system. By the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, the two systems coexisted alternately.
After the unification of the Sui Dynasty, the national power increased greatly, and the government no longer needed to compete with the people for profit from wine. Therefore, in the third year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign, Emperor Wen abolished the wine monopoly system, and even banned the government from making wine. "Winehouses" were abandoned, and the right to make wine and drink was returned to the people. The same was true for the Tang Dynasty. The strong national power provided a high standard of living for the people. It was during this era that Li Bai, the wine master who said "in the past, Chang'an was drunk with flowers and willows, and the five nobles and seven nobles shared a cup of wine" appeared. The Anshi Rebellion destroyed the power of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. In order to raise military expenditures, Tang Dezong reopened the wine tasting system in 782, which lasted until the fall of the Tang Dynasty.
From then on, the system of reviewing wine became the norm. In the Song Dynasty, there was even the position of "official wine supervisor" who was specifically in charge of selling wine.
In the Song Dynasty, there were two types of wine merchants who could sell wine. One was the government itself, that is, state-owned wineries, and the other was private wine merchants with licenses. This led to the emergence of many wineries where officials and businessmen colluded. For example, in "Water Margin", the "Happy Forest" where Jiang Menshen robbed Shi En should fall into this category. Shi En and his son were civil servants, but they opened wineries privately and the business was good. The reason is that he has the right to franchise wine. Not only can he brew and sell the wine himself, but he can also resell the wine to other restaurants. Judging from "Water Margin", there were not many restaurants in the Song Dynasty, and they could even be seen everywhere. However, not many had the real right to make their own wine. Those restaurants could only be regarded as "second-rate dealers" who sold wine from licensed hotels. Just buy it and sell it.
Zhu Yuanzhang was not allowed to grow glutinous rice to prohibit alcohol
The alcohol prohibition in the Yuan Dynasty is very interesting, because Genghis Khan hated drinking and getting into trouble. Therefore, the alcohol prohibition for the people in the early Yuan Dynasty was very strict. In 1283, Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty announced that it was strictly forbidden to privately brew and sell wine. "If there are private winemakers, the children of the property will be appointed as officials, and the prisoners will be served as slaves." In 1290, the penalty was changed to "death for the offender." However, after the late Yuan Dynasty, the prohibition on alcohol began to be relaxed, and various types of pubs began to flourish again.
The founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, argued that "civilian winemaking was a waste of money, so he banned alcoholic beverages." He issued an edict that the people "cannot grow glutinous rice to block the source of winemaking." He was not even allowed to plant glutinous rice for winemaking. Zhu Yuanzhang was very strict in enforcing the prohibition on alcohol. General Hu Dahai's son violated the prohibition on alcohol. Zhu Yuanzhang ignored the fact that Hu Dahai was leading an army on an expedition and killed the prisoner himself. From then on, no one dared to do it again. But with the death of Zhu Yuanzhang, he and his prohibition on alcohol were quickly forgotten by future generations, and making, selling, and drinking wine continued as usual.
The most famous prohibition of alcohol and the debate over alcohol prohibition in the Qing Dynasty occurred during the Qianlong period. In the first year of Qianlong's reign, Fang Bao, a cabinet bachelor, proposed to the young Qianlong a ban on alcohol in the five northwest provinces (Zhili, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu) for two reasons: First, these five provinces were already poor and wasted money every year. It is wrong to make wine with "millions of stones of grain"; secondly, the drunken crime rate of people in these five provinces is too high, "recorded in the autumn trial book, ten often twenty-three", that is to say, 20 to 30% Major cases are all related to drinking.
After thinking about it for more than half a year, Qianlong rashly issued an imperial edict, ordering the five provinces to "permanently ban the making of wine", and left it to the ministers to discuss how to deal with moonshiners and illegal officials. . As soon as this imperial edict was issued, the government and the public were agitated, and opposition was heard endlessly. Sun Jiagan, the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice at that time, first expressed his intention to disobey the decree. His reason was that shochu was made from coarse grains, while rice wine was made from fine grains. Once alcohol was banned, those coarse grains could not be stored and might lead to corruption and smuggling. Qianlong immediately informed the governors of the five provinces to hold discussions. The result was that all five governors opposed the "total ban" approach. Qianlong adopted their suggestions and changed the previous edict to prohibit large-scale brewing activities and reduce brewing in disaster-stricken areas. These measures were gradually incorporated into the Qing Dynasty's laws and regulations and evolved into a legal system that prevailed throughout the country.
The United States: It has implemented the most thorough prohibition on alcohol
In the world, the most thorough prohibition on alcohol is undoubtedly the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that took effect on January 17, 1920— —Prohibition. This act prohibits the brewing, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors as beverages within the United States and all territories subject to their jurisdiction; and prohibits the importation or export of intoxicating liquors into or out of the United States and all territories subject to their jurisdiction.
In the United States, three states raised the banner of prohibition in 1905. This number increased to nine states in 1912, and by 1916, 26 states had joined. Therefore, the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution in 1919 was the inevitable trend.
Contrary to expectations, the United States paid a huge price for the implementation of Prohibition and has not yet fully recovered. First, this bill was considered a serious infringement of civil liberties; then, Prohibition led to the rise of American gangs and the proliferation of smuggling, and American gangs began to enter the stage of history; thirdly, the quality of private brewing was low, and many people suffered health problems as a result. losses, or even lives; in the end, the U.S. government lost more than $500 million in tax revenue each year.
This bill was suspended by President Roosevelt amid criticism and the onset of the Great Depression.
In 1933, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was enacted, abolishing the 18th Amendment. The prohibition of alcohol during this period had a profound impact on the United States. The American gangs that arose due to the situation at that time began to turn to the drug business, which has not been eliminated to this day. The reopened American wineries could no longer compete with Europe and became inferior.
Japan: Forced to implement alcohol prohibition due to lack of rice
The history of Japanese winemaking can be traced back to 300 BC. After rice cultivation was introduced from China, Japanese winemaking became possible. According to local historical records in Japan, sake first appeared around 400 AD, after improvements in the brewing technology introduced from China.
With the return of Japanese envoys to the Tang Dynasty, the culture of the Sui and Tang Dynasties penetrated deeply into Japanese culture. At that time, Japan regarded brewing as a government patent, and only palaces, temples and shrines were eligible to brew. As the shogunate came to power, prohibition was enacted. It was not until the Edo period (17th century) that the prohibition on alcohol was fully relaxed, and Japanese brewing was fully developed among the private sector. According to shogunate statistics, there were as many as 27,251 private brewing households in Japan in 1698.
After the Meiji Restoration, Japan returned the brewing rights to the state to increase national income. During World War II, Japan was in a state of rice shortage, but sake, which represented the spirit of Japan, had to be continuously sent to the front line. In order to make more sake with less rice, the government added alcohol to sake, causing the quality of sake to decline. Around the time of the defeat in 1945, even sake with added alcohol could not be made due to lack of rice, so a total alcohol prohibition was implemented, and it was not until 1949 that normalcy was restored.
Russia: Ban on foreign alcohol advertising
Russia has always been associated with alcohol, but it has often issued some alcohol prohibitions in different historical periods. During the time of Peter the Great in Russia, alcohol was banned. Violators were punished with imprisonment or heavy fines, but this had little effect. During the Gorbachev period in the former Soviet Union, the Soviet Union decided to ban alcohol. The result was exactly the same as the failure of the US alcohol ban in 1920, and Gorbachev lost the support of the people. In 1995, the Russian government once again decided to ban alcohol, requiring the sale of vodka and other hard liquor in public places and prohibiting advertising on television. As a result, beer sales increased significantly.
At present, Russia bans foreign alcohol advertising and widely disseminates public welfare propaganda about alcohol abstinence. In particular, President Putin’s image of not drinking has made a huge contribution to Russia’s alcohol prohibition cause - Putin often One thing they say is "have more children and drink less."
Most of the alcohol bans in Europe are related to football
At this stage, most of the alcohol bans in European countries are related to football. During the 2012 European Cup, the Polish president signed a new collective event safety law, agreeing to sell drinks with an alcohol content of no more than 3.5 in crowd gathering places, so that fans can drink beer while watching football games. However, Russia issued a special alcohol ban in Moscow during its team's qualifiers - a ban on the sale of bottled alcohol. It was worried that fans would lose control of their drinking because they were "sad" or "happy" and prevent bottles from hurting people. .
Similarly, in the 2008 Champions League held in Rome, the host Roma team faced the British Manchester United team from afar. Italian and British football hooligans have long been notorious. To prevent the problem from happening, the authorities in Rome announced a ban on alcohol in the city on the day of the match. All shops and restaurants were prohibited from selling alcoholic beverages in any way.