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Ancient Chinese scholars drank ink as punishment and for inspiration

By PulseAugur Editorial · [1 sources] ·

In ancient China, scholars sometimes consumed ink, a practice documented as early as the Northern and Southern dynasties. Initially, it served as a penalty for poor handwriting, with scholars in the Sui dynasty required to drink up to 600 milliliters of ink. This practice was later abolished during the Tang dynasty, though some scholars continued to ingest ink voluntarily, believing it would enhance their literary abilities. AI

RANK_REASON The article discusses an obscure historical practice with no clear connection to current AI developments.

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AI-generated summary · Google Gemini · from 1 sources. How we write summaries →

Ancient Chinese scholars drank ink as punishment and for inspiration

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The article discusses an obscure historical practice with no clear connection to current AI developments.
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COVERAGE [1]

  1. SCMP — Tech TIER_1 English(EN) · Fran Lu ·

    Ancient Chinese scholars drank ink for poetic inspiration or poor handwriting penalties

    While the Chinese idiom, “Having ink in their stomach”, serves as a metaphor to commend the knowledgeable, the act of ingesting ink was a common practice among ancient literati. The earliest documentation of ink drinking dates back to the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589)…

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