What baijiu actually is
Baijiu (白酒, “white spirit”) is a clear liquor distilled mostly from sorghum, and by sales volume it’s the most consumed spirit on the planet — almost all of it drunk inside China. It typically lands between 35% and 60% ABV, with the classic banquet bottles sitting around 50–55%: stronger than vodka, with an aroma (especially the “sauce-fragrance” styles) that first-timers describe as anything from soy sauce and pineapple to nail varnish. It’s poured into thimble-sized glasses for a reason. You don’t have to love it — plenty of younger Chinese don’t — but tasting it with good grace is a small act of cultural diplomacy that pays off all evening.
Ganbei: the toast that runs the table
Ganbei (干杯) literally means “dry cup”, and at its most formal it’s an instruction: empty the glass. In practice, how literally it’s taken depends entirely on the table. At a business-style banquet with older hosts, expect a rolling sequence of individual toasts rather than one big communal cheers — the host opens, then people toast each other in ones and twos all night. Among younger friends at a restaurant or before a night out, it’s closer to a Western “cheers” and nobody polices your glass. The safest read: match the energy of the table, and when in doubt, follow what the person who invited you does.
The etiquette that actually gets noticed
Toast with two hands. Hold the glass in your right hand and steady the base with your left — it reads as respectful everywhere.
Keep your rim low. When clinking glasses with someone older or senior, angle your rim slightly below theirs. It’s a tiny gesture of deference that Chinese hosts notice instantly and warmly.
Never drink before toasting. The first sip follows the host’s opening toast, not the pouring. Pour for others before yourself, and top up your neighbours when you spot an empty glass.
Return the toast. If someone toasts you individually, toast them back at some point in the evening — it completes the exchange. A simple “to your health” in English with a smile works; a wobbly ganbei in Mandarin works even better (our Mandarin phrasebook has the essentials).
Eat as you go. Banquet drinking is always anchored to food. Pacing yourself with the dishes isn’t just wise, it’s the local style.
How to drink less without offending anyone
This is the question everyone actually wants answered, and the answer is reassuring: refusing gracefully is completely normal. The accepted moves, in rough order of strength: sip instead of draining and say sui yi (随意, “as you please”) — the standard soft counter-offer to ganbei; switch to beer or tea and toast with that instead (toasting with tea is entirely legitimate); cite health or medication — “doctor’s orders” is the single most respected excuse in China and closes the topic instantly; or appoint yourself the designated non-drinker from the start. What doesn’t work is a bare “no” with no participation at all — the toast is social currency, so join the ritual even if your glass holds jasmine tea. And know your own limits: banquet pours are relentless precisely because they’re small.
Where you’ll meet it as a traveller
Full baijiu banquets are mostly a business and family-occasion phenomenon — you’re most likely to encounter one if you’re invited to a wedding banquet, a family dinner, or dinner with local friends’ colleagues. On the gay scene itself, baijiu is a minor player: bars and clubs run on beer, cocktails and whisky-green-tea mixes, and KTV rooms on buckets of beer. But toasting culture — the two hands, the low rim, the individual toasts — carries over everywhere, including a table of new friends at a Chengdu hotpot at midnight (see our food guide). Handle a toast well and you’ll feel the table warm to you in real time; the wider unwritten rules are in our nightlife etiquette guide and general etiquette guide.
The two rules of law worth memorising
First, the legal age to buy alcohol in China is 18, enforced most consistently at city venues and chain retailers. Second — and far more important — China treats drink-driving with severity that surprises many visitors: driving with a blood-alcohol level above 20mg/100ml (roughly a single drink) is a punishable offence with licence confiscation and fines, and above 80mg/100ml it becomes a criminal offence, with detention and a five-year licence ban, under rules in force since 2011. As a traveller you’ll rarely be driving anyway — but this is also why your Chinese friends will absolutely not drive after one beer, why “substitute driver” (代驾, daijia) services thrive outside restaurants, and why you should never accept a lift from anyone who’s been drinking. Didi and the metro exist; use them (set-up in our apps guide).
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Sources: Wikipedia (baijiu; drunk-driving law by country), China Justice Observer on 2023 drunk-driving conviction standards, LegalClarity and China Legal Experts on the minimum purchase age, Shenzhen Government Online. Last verified: July 2026. Laws and enforcement practice change — confirm current rules with official sources before you travel, and always drink at your own pace.