In drinking duel, science is on my side

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The author in Nanning, Guanxi, 2006, participating in a drinking game. We think about what number next to indicate with our hands and which total sum to proclaim. Then we simultaneously go ahead (see next photo):

In China, drinking alcohol is still too often a vital part of doing business. I know of the importance of drinking at least since I lifted the glass extensively to the dean or whatever it was of some sort of department somewhere – let us not get into details.

After it became clear that in spite of plenty of drinking there is little chance of witnessing me making a fool of myself, Doctor Li, who hadn't touched her chopsticks for hours, was politely asked whether she is still hungry, which is usually followed by a polite "No, it was plenty and I am about to burst!" or similar to the same effect, which in turn is the desired signal for everybody to toast one last time and stumble out. Result: Somebody important told me later that I "did well". Well, I didn't do anything but drink too much as far as I remember.

Some of the biology around alcohol should be of interest to the Chinese, especially to the patriotic ones among them: many Asians have a genetically based lack of a certain liver enzyme called alcohol-dehydrogenase. This fact renders status decisions that are based on alcohol consumption especially unfair. In Asia, people mostly boiled their water to disinfect it, brewing tea for example. In Europe around the Middle Ages, drinking fermented fluids like beer and wine was preferred to boiling, both of which are done to treat water antiseptically. This led to relatively recent evolutionary changes. Today, people of European descent, particularly the genes of Caucasians like me, express a more active allele that codes for the alcohol decomposing enzyme, which by the way also acts in the stomach already, not only the liver. I can drink more than most here in China, although some Chinese are quite used to alcohol. Generally speaking, Asians are well advised to steer away from drinking contests with Westerners.

My right hand indicates the Chinese character “八” for 8 but I shout “15”. His left indicates 3 and he calls “10”. He is closer to the sum 3 + 8 = 11, so I must drink again. The more one drinks, the harder it is to anticipate the opponent’s next move. The Chinese beat me most of the time, but eventually my liver enzymes win the contest.

Of course, everybody should stay away from unhealthy contests, and also among Asians does the activity of the enzyme vary a lot. It is a good idea to phase out this unhealthy and unfair alcohol culture. I see much progress here at least among intellectuals. While many older professors still slowly smoke and drink themselves to death, most of the research students and postdoctoral workers decline to participate. With alcohol it is somewhat more difficult, as it is still often regarded obligatory to keep up with the drinking of those enjoying a higher status.

More and more young people refuse to participate and, after they think they drank too much, fill tea into their glasses instead, visibly to all at the banquet. The social function is thus still fulfilled, as it allows them to initiate and respond to toasts. Nevertheless and opposed to the Western drinking contests which plainly test who can stomach most, the deeper reason for drinking alcohol in the Chinese culture seems to still be in vino veritas, which is Latin for "in wine there is truth": Can the person you are going to do important business with be trusted; can she behave under stress; or is she unreliable and shows her true and perhaps opposing colors once sufficiently uninhibited?

I have never witnessed US fraternity style binge drinking in China, and if people here get really drunk, I seldom witness aggression. The alcohol culture is quite different and somewhat funny to a foreigner at first. I mean, so the guy imbibed too much and while the rest of us still sits around the table, he sleeps on the couch. Yes, I am in fact talking about semi-official dinners (!), not friends at home on a weekend. And yes, there are couches in the better restaurants' private dining rooms. In most Western countries, such behavior is a loss of face, as he either could not keep up drinking with the others or obviously drank too much. In China it can be the other way around. He went all the way and beyond the limit to toast many times with everybody, showing his respect and sociability, he did so without becoming insulting or otherwise obnoxious, so face is not only saved, but things turned out entirely to the persons advantage.

The author is a German scientist but live in China now for about six years, mostly in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. He previously lived in the United States for eleven years.