Realgar wine
Reälgar wine or xionghuang wine (Chinese: t 雄黃酒, s 雄黄酒, p xiónghuángjiǔ) is a Chinese alcoholic drink that consists of huangjiu dosed with reälgar, an arsenic sulfide. It is traditionally consumed as part of the Dragon Boat Festival at the height of Chinese summer.
A pesticide and insecticide used (particularly) against mosquitoes, reälgar was considered to be a universal antidote against poison by traditional Chinese medicine, which therefore advocated its use for protection against disease, snakes, and evil spirits. The Dragon Boat Festival (now held to honor the memory of Qu Yuan) in fact coïncided with what Chinese astronomy considered the height of summer and yang's force for the year. Adults were advised to consume huangjiu (as alcohol is considered yin) dosed with pesticide; children too young to handle it would have a 王 ("king", a character associated in China with tigers) drawn on their forehead or chest in the alcohol to protect them. They could also wear an amulet containing or made of reälgar.
These practices were later connected with the festivities honoring Qu Yuan by saying that a doctor had been present during the rush to save him or preserve his body from the ravenous fish. The doctor supposedly cast reälgar into the river, drawing out an aquatic dragon which the boatmen promptly killed.
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