IN THE SPIRIT OF BORROWING

Throughout history, Chinese people have resorted to drinking to forget their troubles, encapsulated by the idiom 借酒浇愁 (jièjiǔjiāochóu, “drowning one's sorrow in wine”). As Cao Cao wrote in his poem “Short Song《(短歌行》)”: “Who can unravel these sorrows of mine? / I know of only one man, the God of Wine (何以解忧，唯有杜康).” However, in the Tang dynasty (618 – 907), the poet Li Bai (李白) —a well-known alcohol addict—wrote, “Sorrow returns, though we drown it with wine (举杯消愁愁更愁).”