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), where it was used as a sanctioned punishment for scholars with illegible handwriting. According to the Book of Sui, the official history of the Sui dynasty (581–618), during an exam administered by a palace attendant...