H230xW200mm, China

To start the black friday weekend here is a wood block print of the wine god.  Du Kang is believed to be the person who have discovered brewing wine in China and is known as the wine god.  Another person Liu Ling is said to be the wine saint, he is one of the 7 bamboo forest intellectuals who is so obsessed with drinking that he will always has a wine cup with him.  There is story of the wine god and the wine saint, it goes something like this … Once upon a time, Du Kang has opened a wine bar in the small town of Bai Shiu Kang Jia,  one day Liu Ling happened to walk pass, outside of the bar was the words “one cup will make a fierce tiger drunk for a year in the mountain, two jars will make a dragon sleep in the deep sea, if you are not drunk you can drink for three years for free”.  The mighty drinker Liu Ling laughed at the sign and decided to give it a try, what kind of wine has he not tasted before he thought.  Du Kang served the wine and drank with Liu Ling, after 3 cups Liu Ling could only felt the world spin around him.  He stumbled back home and stayed drunk for 3 years.  After 3 years, Du Kang went to collect the money for the wine and was told that Liu Ling has passed away 3 years ago!  The wife of Liu Ling was upset with Du Kang and wanted to take him to court, Du Kang explained that her husband is only drunk and the wine did not kill him.  They open up his grave to find him sobering up, the first thing he said was “what good wine it was!”.  The story is beautiful but in fact made up, as Du Kang was from the Shan dynasty (1000 BC) and Liu Ling was from Jin dynasty (300AD) … probably a story formulated after a glass or two …

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