Realgar Wine
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Realgar wine or Xionghuang wine () is a Chinese alcoholic drink that consists of
huangjiu ''Huangjiu'' () is a type of Chinese rice wine (''mijiu'') most popular in the Jiangnan area. ''Huangjiu'' is brewed by mixing steamed grains including rice, glutinous rice or millet with ''qū'' as starter culture, followed by saccharifica ...
("yellow wine") dosed with powdered
realgar Realgar ( ), also known as arsenic blende, ruby sulphur or ruby of arsenic, is an arsenic sulfide mineral with the chemical formula α-. It is a soft, sectile mineral occurring in monoclinic crystals, or in granular, compact, or powdery form, ...
(As4S4), a yellow-orange
arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...
sulfide Sulfide (also sulphide in British English) is an inorganic anion of sulfur with the chemical formula S2− or a compound containing one or more S2− ions. Solutions of sulfide salts are corrosive. ''Sulfide'' also refers to large families o ...
mineral. It is traditionally consumed as part of the
Dragon Boat Festival The Dragon Boat Festival ( zh, s=端午节, t=端午節, first=t, p=Duānwǔ jié, cy=Dyūnńgh jit) is a traditional Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which corresponds to late May or earl ...
at the height of summer.


Tradition

Realgar solution has been sprinkled around the house as an repellent against snakes and insects since ancient times. In this sense, realgar was considered to be a universal antidote against
poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...
by
traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...
, which therefore advocated its use for protection against disease, snakes, and evil spirits. The
Dragon Boat Festival The Dragon Boat Festival ( zh, s=端午节, t=端午節, first=t, p=Duānwǔ jié, cy=Dyūnńgh jit) is a traditional Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which corresponds to late May or earl ...
coincides with what
Chinese astronomy Astronomy in China has a long history stretching from the Shang dynasty, being refined over a period of more than 3,000 years. The Ancient China, ancient Chinese people have identified stars from 1300 BCE, as Chinese star names later categori ...
considers the height of summer and ''
yang Yang may refer to: * Yang, in yin and yang, one half of the two symbolic polarities in Chinese philosophy * Korean yang, former unit of currency of Korea from 1892 to 1902 * YANG, a data modeling language for the NETCONF network configuration p ...
'''s force for the year. Adults were advised to consume ''huangjiu'' (as alcohol is considered '' yin'') dosed with realgar powder; children too young to consume alcohol would wear an amulet containing realgar or have a ("king") drawn on their forehead or chest with realgar slurry left over from the production of the wine to protect them. These practices were later connected with the festivities honoring poet and statesman
Qu Yuan Qu Yuan ( – 278 BC) was a Chinese poet and aristocrat in the State of Chu during the Warring States period. He is known for his patriotism and contributions to classical poetry and verses, especially through the poems of the '' ...
(340–278 BC), who killed himself in protest by drowning in a river. According to legend, locals rushed in boats to save him or preserve his body from being eaten by the fish. A doctor among them is said to have cast realgar into the river, drawing out an aquatic dragon which the boatmen promptly killed.


Preparation

Realgar wine can be bought ready-made, but it is often prepared from homemade yellow wine and realgar mineral powder bought from drugstores, markets, or street vendors. A typical recipe calls for 50 to 100 grams of realgar powder to be added to one liter of homemade wine and left to stand at room temperature for several hours.


Health risks

Although practiced for many centuries, the drinking of realgar wine and the painting of children with realgar have come under scrutiny in modern times. Pure realgar by itself has low toxicity when ingested since its poor solubility hampers its absorption in the gastrointestinal tract, but the minerals used in realgar wine may contain substantial amounts of other inorganic arsenic compounds, such as
arsenate The arsenate is an ion with the chemical formula . Bonding in arsenate consists of a central arsenic atom, with oxidation state +5, double bonded to one oxygen atom and single bonded to a further three oxygen atoms. The four oxygen atoms orien ...
and
arsenite In chemistry, an arsenite is a chemical compound containing an arsenic oxyanion where arsenic has oxidation state +3. Note that in fields that commonly deal with groundwater chemistry, arsenite is used generically to identify soluble AsIII anions ...
, which can be absorbed by the body. Arsenic is a potent poison and a causal factor in urinary bladder, skin, liver, and lung cancers. There have been a number of poisonings associated with realgar ingestion. Samples of realgar wine have been found to contain 70 to 400 mg of dissolved arsenic compounds per liter (compared to less than 0.003 mg/L in the homemade wine itself), mostly as
arsenite In chemistry, an arsenite is a chemical compound containing an arsenic oxyanion where arsenic has oxidation state +3. Note that in fields that commonly deal with groundwater chemistry, arsenite is used generically to identify soluble AsIII anions ...
and
arsenate The arsenate is an ion with the chemical formula . Bonding in arsenate consists of a central arsenic atom, with oxidation state +5, double bonded to one oxygen atom and single bonded to a further three oxygen atoms. The four oxygen atoms orien ...
: more than a thousand times the maximum concentration of arsenic legally allowed in commercial liquor. The concentration of dissolved arsenic decreases as
ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...
content increases. Consumption of 200 mL of the realgar wine containing 70 mg arsenic compounds per liter resulted in a substantial increase of arsenic levels in urine, to 200 
μg In the metric system, a microgram or microgramme is a Physical unit, unit of mass equal to one millionth () of a gram. The unit symbol is μg according to the International System of Units (SI); the recommended symbol in the United States and Uni ...
/L. Levels of ≥80 μg/L were observed in the urine of children who had their faces painted with realgar slurry, indicating absorption through the skin.


See also

* Cold-Food Powder, an ancient Chinese drug containing realgar


References

{{chinese booze Chinese wine Adulteration