Tradition: Chinese Mythology
Alternative Names: Wine Worm, Alcohol Worm
Category: Insect
The Myth
The Jiuchong is a small, red, worm-like creature that lives inside a human body and creates an insatiable desire for alcohol. It is described as a fleshy creature approximately three inches long, with a mouth and eyes, wriggling like a fish in water. Its presence allows its host to consume enormous quantities of wine without becoming drunk, while leaving them with a constant need to drink.
The creature appears in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Liaozhai Zhiyi), in the story of Liu, a wealthy man from Changshan who was exceptionally fond of drinking. Whenever he drank alone, he could finish an entire wine jar. He was so devoted to alcohol that he planted half of his three hundred mu of farmland with millet used for brewing. Although he drank heavily, his wealth meant that this habit did not initially cause him financial difficulties.
A foreign Buddhist monk eventually recognized that Liu’s unusual drinking ability was caused by a wine worm living inside him. The monk offered to remove it without medicine. Liu was made to lie face down in the midday sun, with his hands and feet tied, while a vessel of fine wine was placed just beyond his reach. As thirst and the smell of wine became unbearable, Liu suddenly felt an intense itching in his throat and vomited the creature into the wine. The red worm wriggled in the vessel, and Liu was finally freed from its influence.
The monk refused payment in gold but asked to keep the wine worm. He explained that it was the essence of wine and possessed a remarkable ability: when placed in a jar of water and stirred around, it could transform the water into excellent wine. Liu tested this claim and found it to be true. Yet after the worm was removed, he developed an intense aversion to alcohol. His body gradually grew thinner, his wealth dwindled, and eventually his household became too poor to provide sufficient food.
The story ends with a reflection on Liu’s strange reversal of fortune. When he drank an enormous amount of wine, his wealth remained intact; after he stopped drinking, poverty overtook him. The tale leaves open whether the wine worm had truly been a disease or whether it had been the source of Liu’s former prosperity. The Jiuchong is therefore both a parasitic creature that controls a person’s appetite and a supernatural source of wine, whose removal changes its host’s life in unexpected ways.
Sources
“酒虫.” 维基百科，自由的百科全书. Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%85%92%E8%99%AB