At the beginning of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the etiquette system was not perfect, and the court banquet was relatively simple. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty arrived, the Han Dynasty entered its heyday, and the wind of drinking and feasting flourished with materials and prevailed because of etiquette. The earliest official records of formal banquets based on the banquet of "foreign guests" appeared in the Western Han Dynasty. In the second year of Yuan Ding (115 BC), in order to receive the envoys of the Wusun Kingdom (whose territory was in present-day Kyrgyzstan) who sent Zhang Qian back to Han, Emperor Wu of Han said four words- "The Gift of the Feast of the Kingdom".
In the court banquet, the most important thing is the "Zhengdan Pilgrimage". The original meaning of "dan" is morning, and by extension there is an initial meaning, and "zhengdan" is the first day of the first lunar month. The Han Dynasty called the Spring Festival in many ways, and "Zhengdan" was one of them.
The Book of Etiquette of the Later Han Dynasty compiled by fan Ye, a historian of the Southern Dynasty and Song Dynasty, records: "In the first month of each year, congratulations are given to the Great Dynasty... Hundreds of officials were blessed with feasts and great pleasures. "Here is a record of the Spring Festival scene of the Eastern Han Court. It means that on the first day of the first lunar month, the imperial court held a court meeting, and the civil and military officials presented congratulatory gifts to the emperor according to their ranks. As a token of gratitude for the gifts of the civil and military officials, the emperor would give a banquet after the pilgrimage.
The Eastern Han Dynasty Cai Qian's "Selection of Ceremonies for Han Officials" describes the various types of personnel who participated in the banquets of the Zhengdan imperial court at that time: "Zhengyue Dan ... The Gong, the Secretary, the General, the Doctor, and the Hundred Officials each accompanied the pilgrimage. Barbarians, Qi, Hu, qiang dynasty tributes, see the county planners, all majesty ... The clan chambers of liu relatives, more than 10,000 people, standing to the west. "Hundreds of officials, princes, counties and state officials, and emissaries must all participate in the Great Dynasty.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Palace Yan Feast was already of considerable scale, and the Zhengdan State Banquet was even more pompous, and Ban Gu wrote in the "Eastern Capital Endowment": "It is riye, and the son of heaven is subject to the map of the four seas... Tingshi Qianpin, Ten Thousand Bells of Wine, Liejin, Ban Yuqian, Jiazhen Yu, Tai Prison... Wanle Preparation, Bai Li Ji, Emperor Huanhuan, Qunchen Drunk... "Rare ingredients, golden jade wine vessels, junchen drinking, orderly."
Unlike the modesty of pre-Qin feasts, the Han Dynasty had a strong style of feasting and drinking, and the banquet was often accompanied by entertainment activities such as music and dance, acrobatics, hundred plays, and poetry.
Illustrations from "Painting Cats and Returning to Han: Han Dynasty Style Painting Volume"
Illustrator: Su Zhenglou