A Comparison Study On Drinking Customs Between China And Japan

China and Japan are close neighbors facing each other across a narrow strip of water and the two peoples have had frequent contacts and friendly exchanges in politics, economy, religion, arts, culture and other aspects since ancient times. The liquor culture is no exception. The liquor culture was imported from China to Japan and formed a unique Japanese liquor ceremony cultural system with the continuous integration. The author finds that there are few comparison researches in Sino-Japan liquor cultures, especially in the drinking customs of China and Japan after referring to lots of relevant materials on liquor culture research.So the author wants to compare the drinking customs of China and Japan from the points of modus operandi, cultural functions and cultural diffusion and transfiguration. It is conducive not only to the further comprehension of two liquor cultures but also make efforts to further understand and learn Japanese culture and strengthen the Sino-Japan culture communications.The thesis consists of four parts.The first part describes the historical development of Sino-Japan drinking cultures.The second part discusses the drinking customs of china and Japan in life etiquette and festivals from points of modus operandi, cultural functions and cultural diffusion and transfigurationThe third part discusses the drinking customs of china and Japan in public activities and social intercourse from points of modus operandi, cultural functions and cultural diffusion and transfiguration.The fourth part investigates the public faith and language which is related to liquor to further the understanding of the drinking customs of China and Japan.By comparison the author founds:Firstly, there is a close relationship between communication and tolerance by the Chinese and Japanese cultures about drinking. Drinking customs of Japan is affected by ancient China in many ways. As a ritual, drinking was introduced to Japan associated with the coming of a culture. Japan improved the drinking custom and formed their own unique culture. In addition. In turn, Japanese custom of drinking and heritage of drinking culture affect China and offer enlightenments to China in terms of cultural heritage.Secondly, from the point of view of cultural features of drinking, we can see that the function of drinking in Chinese and Japanese is almost the same by the comparison of their custom of drinking. They are roughly divided into ceremonial function and sociability function, which may also be said to be a common feature of world drinking culture. At the same time, from these drinking customs with different features, we can get a glimpse of the similarities and differences between China and Japan in terms of cultural psychology.Thirdly, public beliefs and language related to drinking can not only reflect people’s drinking behavior, but also react on people’s drinking behavior. In fact, literary and artistic works have interacting relations with a country’s drinking customs. Because of time and effort restrictions, I will have a research on drinking as a future topic.