Bill Dan,
My excuse is always that I have to drive my car home. This is something most Chinese I hang out with understand.....try it - even if you do not have a car...

The car thing is a great excuse. Chinese do understand that one, because of the harsh fines/jail times and checkpoints.

I use the driving thing, but this can backfire. I was eating with a bunch of people once, and they all then did not drink. I was the party pooper.

The other excuse I use is, 'The doctor told me not to drink baijiu'. This is widely accepted. I know a lot of middle aged Chinese men who have had to stop due to health issues, probably ulcers.

Wow an even better one. Your right, the driving excuse can cause others to stop drinking too since they probably drive too haha. But the doctor thing is grave enough but tailored made to yourself. Nice one.

I met a Chinese guy who was hospitalized after heavy drinking. His doctor advised him to stop the baijiu. He said "I can't". People lose their jobs over this stuff. It's a sad part of the culture that hopefully will disappear one day. If people want to drink themselves silly, it's one thing. But when people are hijacked into forced drinking, it's another.

Substituting the baijiu for Soda is usually best as you still toast with the individual..

Baijiu stinks.....

Scotch is smooth and I can make it last......without getting sloshed!!

I have a better one, but I'm not going to tell, I'm afraid you steal my idea. Ouuu~
F.Y.I: Mr. BillDan, your words"我不饿会喝酒"=I'm not hungry, I can drink.

Stay away from the local wines unless you want to mix it with food cooked in gutter oil. Then the combination will cancel each other out until you die very young.

Ever heard of beer ? low alcohol content compared to rice wine or liquor, saves every ones face and your liver.

The 'you must drink if you want to keep the job' culture is rapidly disappearing. A big part of this was the changes, and enforcement of, the drink drive laws a couple of years ago. Also, as foreigners, this never really applied to us.

Hello.

I am a drinker, I like to drink. My favorite alcohol in whiskey, red, dry wine and beer. I have "ganbei'ed" with Chinese people, mostly because of my wife. I have had some wonderful, drunken nights with Chinese people. I like Chinese people. I do. If I did not, I would say so.

Chinese are very insistent people. Extremely insistent people. They are irritating about it. I have been forced to drink on nights that I am either hungover or I had something to do early the next day. I have had to be a dick to my wife and the company that, NO, I do not want to drink tonight! It doesn't usually take that much.

One day I was horrifically hungover. Pain, headache, thirst, death. My wife made me go out to see these yahoos in her hometown because their daughter was going to Canada or something. The girl was very uninteresting. Conversation.......

Me: You are going to college.

Her: Yes.

Me: Where?

Her: Canada.

Me: Where in Canada?

Her: Toronto.

Me: What school?

Her: Toronto State (note, this is a fiction school, I lost interest by then.)

Me: What are you studying.

Her: Proctology (again, I have no clue, I am in pain and loss interest)

Her father tried to nudge me beers and 9 times out of 10, I would have happily accepted. This was the 10th time. I am hungover and I dont want beer. The problem is that I do not want to insult my guest. I avoided booz

In my Chinese hometown, I worked in a Junior Middle School and a Senior School which were seperate by distance. I loved the Junior school. Nice, sweet polite kids. It was the total opposite in the Senior school. I hated that f'ing place. 60 kids to a class and most of them were rude and awful.

One morning around 11 AM, I finished my classes and was commanded by the Headmaster to have lunch with him and other leaders from other schools. Me? "Yes Sir!"

Why? Because the Headmaster was a lush. He was also a very kind and nice man. I have seen him angry and pissed off once about something, but usually he was a very nice, laid back boss. His name was Mr. Zhou and he was a drinker. I don't think he was an alcoholic, he was like a teenager with booze when given the opportunity.

I taught at the junior school in the morning and the senior school in the afternoon. Finished my classes at the junior school around 11:30 and had to be at the senior school at 1:30 or so.

That day,11 AM that day was cocktail hour. Dry red wine. Gambied our asses off. I hated my afternoon job, and I was getting drunk with a boss. Ate some good local Chinese food, talked with the other English teachers in the area. I had to have the husband of another teacher come in an interpret for me.

Mr. Zhou was like the President/head partier in fraternity. I sat in a low table with Zhou and a bunch of other Chinese who had limited English, drank wine and had a great time.

I taught at the junior school in the morning and the senior school in the afternoon. Finished my classes at the junior school around 11:30 and had to be at the senior school at 1:30 or so..

I did a summer camp which happened at his campus. Our closing ceremony was a big table with myself, the bored, tired Chinese teachers and the small table was Mr. Zhou. I wated to go over there because they were partying and drinking. This was the summer before I worked in the schools.

Mr. Zhou goes to all the tables with a shot of wine to Ganbei everyone. In our group were some foreign teachers. Mr. Zhou goes to the foreigner leader, a woman about 60. When the picture was to be taken, the old woman kissed Mr. Zhou on the cheek. Mr. Zhou was as shocked as Archie Bunker being kissed by Sammy Davis Junior. I saw the look on Mr. Zhou's face, but did not get a picture.

I worked my first year in my wife's hometown teaching English. I taught