MUZIChinese Matrix
Drinking Customs · FFET10456
Two players show fingers and call a total at once; the correct guess wins, and the loser drinks.
Drinking etiquette, the manners of urging a drink and drinking games.
Huaquan is a drinking game played at banquets in which two players simultaneously show fingers and call a number; whoever calls the combined total correctly wins, and the loser drinks. Calls often use phrases with auspicious meanings, and variants are described in Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan.
Huaquan is a drinking game in which two players use hand gestures and spoken guesses to predict the total number of fingers shown. The loser drinks.1,3
Huaquan is played at banquets and drinking parties. A Ming notebook compares the old hook-hiding game to the caimei guessing game of its day, but it does not mention drinking, and the page gives no year. The date of huaquan as a drinking game therefore cannot be set.2
Huaquan is played at Chinese banquets, with variants in Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan.1
Both players show their hands at the same moment and call a number from zero to ten in set phrases. The player whose call equals the combined number of fingers shown wins; ties are replayed, and the loser drinks. An illegal gesture loses, and opening with a call of zero or five is considered rude.1
Huaquan gives drinking at the table clear rules for winning and losing, and its calls are mostly phrases with auspicious meanings.1
Some places ban the call "wukuishou".1
Tradition says Lady Gouyi held a piece of jade in her clenched fist. One account links this story to the hook-hiding guessing game and to the origins of huaquan. It is a told tale with no verifiable source.
Told in: The available material does not name a region where this tale is told.
