ABSTRACT
Religious rules and taboos have had a strong impact on food ideas and practices in China as much as in other cultures. A good amount of work has been done on vegetarianism and specific meat taboos, either permanent or linked to calendar observances. Less attention has been paid to the strong connection between meat, alcohol and sex in these rules. This paper will chart the various discourses on alcohol consumption both in normative texts (Daoist, Confucian, Buddhist, and “sectarian” rules, morality books) and in local practice, focusing on the early modern and modern periods, before exploring the place of drinking and abstinence in self-cultivation regimens.