ink our wine, You'll be well, your breath won't smell. If you drink our wine, You'll dare go through Qingsha Kou alone. If you drink our wine, You won't kowtow to the emperor On the ninth of ninth you'll go with me Good wine, good wine, good wine!(8) The anti-authoritarian implication is not only found in the song's lyrics, it is suggested by the very act of wine-drinking. In the Chinese historical memory, heavy drinking can be a transgression of decorum, an act of defying convention, a route to visionary intensity or a way of achieving autonomy. It also bears the burden of moral condemnation for spiritual degradation, over-indulgence and social irresponsibility.(9) The popularity of the film in China when it was screened in the mid-1980s reflects not only a more tolerant political climate but also the rediscovery of pleasure-giving elements such as sex, wine and earthy songs and the tenuous rejection of Communist puritanism together with many other tenets of the Chinese Communist dogma. In Red Sorghum, Zhang presents images and sounds of pleasure as a means to augment the desire and courage to do what is right. Towards the end of the film, the distillery workers make a vow to avenge Luohan's death by chanting the song to the God of Wine. By drinking the wine in Luohan's memory, they invoke the valour of heroes to carry out justice, even at the expense of sacrificing their lives. The final scene compresses with mythical power the themes of the film. The red colour of the landscape, introduced through the unforgettable image of a solar eclipse, is a searing reflection of the violence and bloodshed in the struggle against the Japanese. However, it is also a reminder of the characters' love of life, passion and spiritual freedom. By chanting a children's rhyme to send off his mother's soul into her next life, Douguan reminds the audience that true heroes never really die; they are immortalized in legends to have their lives of passion, bol...
