Toasting and Falling Over

[roddy]

I was in Yantai for work recently (well, 3 days trip for 10 minutes work . . .) and most meals were accompanied by plenty of toasting. I was told that Shandong has a whole range of rules to be followed when drinking and toasting, starting with the positioning of guests (host at head of table, main guest on his right, lesser guest on his left, assistant host opposite him, reserve assistant hosts at 3 and 6 o'clock - back-up hosts for when the first line falls over (and the first line did) and also the order and frequency in which the guests should be toasted.

However, as I was half-cut and trying to sneakily spit out a mouth-full of some 'delicacy' (a cross between squid and a nylon-stocking) I didn't pay much attention. Does anyone know the details?

Roddy

PS Feel free to include 'who drunk the most Baijiu' stories in this thread. There must be plenty of them out there.

[channamasala]

Who drunk the most baijiu story:

The short of it is that it's always me.

So I was in Kaili and these random locals put me up at their house for the night, see, the thing about that is that I probably should not have accepted but the wife was very friendly and they had a kid and even if the husband was a wanker, he looked like the sort I could pummel in a fight, and I didn't have anything valuable with me anyway. I pretty much never do. So I did accept.

The deal was that I got free accomodation and free meals for the four days I spent there in exchange for putting in a "guest appearance" (translation: teaching) the husband's friend's English class (Chinese teacher) for one hour. Foreigners are few and far between in Kaili.

The class began at 8pm, and they took me out to dinner with the whole group of guy friends, one of whom hit on me - fake, large-muscled Indian boyfriend came in really handy - so I got to see firsthand what typical Chinese Men do when they all go out without their, uh, women. As you may have guessed, it includes eating a lot, smoking a lot, and drinking what they think is a lot of baijiu.

A lot of baijiu, my pigu.

I was of course invited to participate in the festivities, although I turned down the cigarettes. After four of those so-tiny cups (liquor thimbles, I call 'em), all drunk half a thimble at a time, the men were all pretty red-faced and out of commission. I was drinking full cups and so I'd had eight to their four, and a good deal more, don't remember how many, beyond that.

Well, they TOLD me I taught a great class after that. The kids loved it. Everyone loved it. I don't remember much, though. It's on VCD somewhere, so if anyone ever wants to blackmail me...

[LFCLOUDS]

Go to a library and look for "Chinese Business Etiquette: A Guide to Protocol, Manners, and Culture in the People's Republic of China " by Scott D. Seligman.

It has a whole chapter on the whole table layout thing -I had to order it off the net though, but its probably easier to get it in Beijing than in Dublin.

Alternatively, I should be in Beijing in the next month or so - you can photocopy the chapter if you wish.

[ChouDoufu]

I always thought the guy who drank the most baijiu were those old guys in the hard seat section of the train. There is alwas one of the everytime I travel in China and they stink to high heaven of Baijiu and drink it the entire time their on the train.

so I got to see firsthand what typical Chinese Men do when they all go out without their, uh, women.

Unfortunately, I don't think you quite saw the real Chinese-men-on-the-town behavior. I've been out with a group of Chinese guys on the town and a foreign girl and while they did act wild, the when we all went out again without the girl they were much wilder.