For 20 years in Chinese Asia I've made notes about things I've seen, heard or experienced, or of great flashes of insight and understanding (rare) I've had about the cross-culture divide. I post a new tip each week, and link to the previous tip in case you miss it. You can receive the tips each week by email; for more information go the contact page. 

Winning Chinese Drinking Games

You are outnumbered at the dinner table, seven Chinese and you, and the brandy, whiskey, beer and/or sharp-flavored Chinese liquor begins flowing. One after another the Chinese invite you to gan bei (the common Chinese toast, literally "dry glass," pronounced "gan bay"). Just before the room starts spinning you realize you've been drinking seven glasses to their one. Welcome to a common Chinese drinking game, Let's Get The Foreigner Drunk. It's an old favorite, and, if you play by their rules, you will lose. So, how do you change the rules?

There's two basic ways: drink smart or don't drink at all. Drinking smart doesn't mean stopping when you've had enough (or in mid-game), it means recognizing the game when it starts and stopping it. How? Choose the most senior Chinese and quickly gan bei him 3-4 times in a row. This sends a message that the game may change to Senior Chinese Gets Drunk In Front Of Foreigner, and that's not a Chinese favorite. What normally happens next is toasting becomes fairer, i.e., you will be asked to drink more-or-less the same as everyone else.

Do you have to drink? No. But to not drink and still be polite you may have to lie. Simply saying, "I don't want to drink tonight," even if true, is a bad idea: you may offend your hosts (who could interpret your words to mean "I don't want to drink with you"). Far better is telling the host or interpreter, while the drinks are being poured, something like "I'm sorry but I'm taking medicine and my doctor says I can't drink." By and large the Chinese will accept and respect this no problem, and you can freely gan bei orange juice all evening.

Just be careful, and don't be caught an hour after dinner with a Scotch in the hotel bar. Go back to your room to have a drink. That's what the mini bar is for.