Where to drink in a piece of history in China, say (8)
I believe the answer is:
republic
'china say' is the definition.
(China is officially the People's Republic of China)
'where to drink in a piece of history' is the wordplay.
'where to drink' becomes 'pub' (a place to have a drink).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a piece of history' becomes 'relic' (a historical artefact).
'pub' put inside 'relic' is 'REPUBLIC'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for republic that I've seen before include "Country with no king" , "Political system of government by the people" , "Plato's ideal state" , "Cuba, say" , "Strange pub relic of a political system" .)