Chinese Version
06-18-2021， Friday， Sunny

On Wednesday, we, a group of people born in the 1990′s and I, celebrated Professor A’s birthday. This was the first time we had met with the professor indoors after more than a year. We were very happy!

While drinking the champagne brought by Professor A, we listened to his stories about teaching, studying, and writing in universities for the past decades. He spoke very freely and we listened very attentively.

“After the age of 70, I started to tell little stories in my class, things I didn’t do before,” the professor said.

I thought that is a kind of mellowing-out brought by life, because I also liked telling small stories now, although I’m still far away from the age of 70.

After the professor finished saying: “When I had an idea to write an article, but I felt it was difficult to start it, I would drink a bit of single barrel whisky, then I would write more smoothly”, the audience started to share their own drinking experiences.

Grace said happily, “My doctor also said that drinking some red wine in moderation is good for my health, so I’m drinking it sometimes now.”

“There was a very famous poet Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty who wrote many famous poems after becoming drunk,” Lou added.

Alex joked, “Thanks for your story. I’ll remember to have a drink when I can’t write in the future.”

It’s easier to feel drunk while drinking plus chatting about happy drinking experiences at the same time. I felt that being “drunk by oneself” had a higher chance of occurring than being “drunk by alcohol” in such occasions. Wine is really good at lightening up the atmosphere!

While we were clapping after singing “Happy Birthday to You” in English, the professor said seriously, “Could I ask you to sing ‘Happy Birthday to You’ in Chinese again?”

After singing “Happy Birthday to You” in Chinese, looking at the very happy professor, we were also very happy! I experience the joy of the saying: “giving a rose to others, leaves a fragrance in your own hand.”

Drinking wine can stimulate inspiration. There was Li Bai in ancient times, and here is Professor A now.

Little Episodes

1. Wednesday’s birthday dinner with light and sweet dishes.

Two sweet cold dishes:
Eggplant + bean sprout + carrot,
Sugar tomato.

Other dishes are:
Onion fried beef,
Shanghai XiaoBaiCai fried chicken breast,
Steam cooked blue fish
Simple fried salmon

2. Hu Shi’s story of “drinking to cure heart disease”.

A long time ago, I read a biography of Hu Shi ( 1891 – 1962), a famous Chinese scholar. Today, everything in the book is blurring, but I still remember the story about Hu Shi’s drink alcohol: the middle-aged Hu Shi was diagnosed a heart problem, and his doctor suggested that he should carry a small bottle of strong wine, so that he could take a sip quickly whenever he felt bad, because wine has the function of dilating blood vessels and improving the strength of heart and blood vessels.

Today’s health expert also said: “For a man who is at moderate to high risk for heart disease, a daily alcoholic drink could reduce that risk”

3. Weekly Alcohol intake

From May 2021 to now, in this two months, I was struggling between drinking and not drinking, because I learned online: “Heavy drinking maybe related to severe pain in several joints: such as thumb joint, ankle joint, hand joint.” A typical symptom of the well-known disease gout. After hearing “100 grams of pure alcohol per week is a very small amount for human body.” I started drinking again. It’s great to have this knowledge while enjoying drinking, as I know my drinking style is safe.
From CDC（Centers for Disease Control and Prevention）: