Made in Macao | Why is chrysanthemum wine auspicious?

Jenny Lao-Phillips

The Chung Yeung Festival 路陽節, one of the main Chinese festivals of the year, took place one week ago. Two years ago I wrote about how the Chung Yeung Festival was not originally for ancestors’ worship as it is being practiced nowadays. The festival started as a commemoration of a village that escaped a catastrophic plague by climbing up a high mountain carrying zhuyu (cornelian cherry) and drinking chrysanthemum wine on the 9th day of the 9th month of the year.

This year, I intend to investigate the two things that those villagers carried with them to the mountain in their attempt to escape from the plague: zhuyu and chrysanthemum wine. What was so special about them that protected the villagers from a plague that killed all livestock left behind in the village?

Firstly, zhuyu (cornelian cherry) is no simple cherry. According to traditional Chinese medicine records, zhuyu is documented as having the effect of painkilling, soothing diarrhea and alleviating stomach pain. Legend has it that cornelian cherry was originally named wuyu during the period of the Warring States, between 770 B.C. and 221 B.C. Once, an envoy for the Wu State brought some wuyu on behalf of the Wu King as an offer to the powerful King of the Chu State. The Chu King was furious, because he considered it an insult that the Wu State did not offer him gold and jewels as everyone else did. Without inquiring what it was that the Wu envoy offered, the King sent him out of his State. But an imperial doctor named Zhu learnt of the powerful medicinal effect of the wuyu and secured the cherries.

The next year, the Chu King suffered from serious stomach pain, and was cured at once after taking medicine made from the wuyu. Knowing the preciousness of the wuyu, the Chu King at once sent his envoys to apologise to the Wu King. He then named the cornelian cherries ‘wuzhuyu’, adding the word ‘Zhu’ after the doctor Zhu who kept the cherries, which had cured his sickness. Over the years, ‘wuzhuyu’ has become better known as ‘zhuyu’.

The Chung Yeung Festival story only mentioned villagers carrying zhuyu with them to the mountain, so the tradition was to wear the cherries on one’s arm.  However, given the record of the medicinal power of zhuyu, the villagers were saved probably not just by carrying zhuyu, but by taking them. Thus, this implies that the legendary plague that started the Chung Yeung Festival was probably some sort of food poisoning leading to death from diarrhea, which was not uncommon in the ancient days. But there is no way to find out.

Let’s move to the chrysanthemum wine, considered in ancient China to be an ‘auspicious wine’ because it was believed to bring longevity. This belief is of course rooted in the Chung Yeung Festival story. Aside from carrying zhuyu, the villagers were saved from the plague because they drank chrysanthemum wine.

Even in the “Compendium of Materia Medica”, the Chinese herbology volume, chrysanthemum wine is recorded as a high-value medicine. It has long been believed to have various healing effects including reducing internal heat, protecting one’s liver and eyesight, and exhibiting anti-inflammatory, detoxification, anti-aging, and anti-tumor properties, making it a health as well as a beauty supplement for females. As for the opposite sex, chrysanthemum wine is also believed to be good at strengthening kidneys and providing “essence” for men. Therefore, it is believed to be a cure for almost everything, and hence, leads to longevity.

So, although we have no great grape varieties for high quality wine, we have a flower that can be used to make auspicious wine. Cheers to health and longevity!