When Chinese special investigator Ding Gou'er hears persistent rumors that there is cannibalism in the province known as the Republic of Wine, he is dispatched by his superiors to learn the truth. His mission begins at the Mount Lou Coal Mine, where he encounters Diamond Jin, legendary for his extraordinary capacity to hold his liquor and, Ding Gou'er strongly suspects, fondness for young human flesh. A banquet is served in his honor, during which the special investigator, by meal's end in an alcohol-induced stupor, loses all sense of reality. Interspersed through Ding's narrative -- and faltering investigation -- are stories sent to him by Li Yidou (aka Doctor of Liquor Studies), each one more mad and demonic than the next. Wild, bawdy, politically explosive, The Republic of Wine is both mesmerizing and exhilarating, proving that no repressive regime can stifle true creative imagination.