The most celebrated among them was Li Bai, who was even alluded to as one of the Eight Wine-Drinking Immortals by his contemporary Du Fu, himself a famed poet of the Tang dynasty. Classical Chinese poets were so enraptured by it that they wrote countless poems to the beauty of wine. Through millennia, Chinese spirits and liquor has had a special place in many of China's greatest figures, inspiring lofty praise from scholars and comforting the lonely and the sorrowful. According to legend, Du Kang was the inventor of Chinese liquor who lived about 4,000 years ago, but by Cao Cao's time, the name had evolved to become a metonymy for good quality Chinese liquor. Wherein lies relief? Only in du kang.' So reads a poignant line from Duan Ge Xing authored by Cao Cao, a brilliant ruler, military leader, poet and martial artist who lived from 155 to 220 AD.
'The heart is melancholic, the sorrow cannot be forgotten.
