To Toast or Not to Toast, How Gen Z Views Drinking Culture in China?

At her company’s year-end banquet, 28-year-old Nancy Zhang faced a challenge: she had to toast all 30 clients seated at the three tables, one by one. Working for a whiskey company in Shenzhen, a bustling first-tier city near Hong Kong, she was all too aware that each toast meant finishing a cup of her company’s whiskey. The prospect of downing 30 glasses over the course of the evening was less than appealing to her.

Nancy’s plight highlights the workplace drinking culture in China, where compulsory toasting serves as a means of expressing respect and fostering communication. In this context, not finishing a glass during a toast is often seen as a sign of disrespect.

The longstanding drinking culture is generally disliked by Generation Z in China. In 2021, China Newsweek, a state-owned publication, conducted a poll on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform similar to X (formerly Twitter), asking young people how they feel about the drinking culture. Among the 613,000 voters, 84.7% or 519,000 chose “extremely hate and cannot accept it,” while 85,000 voted for “it is hard to say not to it in reality.”

The original Weibo post is not accessible due to China Newsweek’s privacy setting, but a screenshot of the poll was shared by a state-owned news website.

On Xiaohongshu, a popular lifestyle social media platform, a user who claimed to be born after the millennium shared her unpleasant experience of toasting at a workplace dinner and voiced her frustration with this norm, garnering over 1,000 likes on her post.

“A man in our department, around 50 years old, continually urged three interns to toast, again and again. He kept stressing that social conventions dictated this behavior, insisting that ‘drinking culture is compulsory if you want to enter a state-owned company in the future.’ But honestly, I really don’t like it,” she wrote in her post.

One comment read, “The drinking culture will disappear when the older generation retires.” Another added, “Let’s transform it into milk tea culture.” Both comments received over 1,000 likes.

Why They Don’t Like Drinking Culture

Confronted with the daunting challenge of downing 30 glasses of whiskey, it was inevitable that Nancy would get drunk during the business toasts. “Essentially, every drunken experience I’ve had was for work. When I drink alone, I can control my intake; but in a business setting, under the pressure of toasting everyone, it’s difficult to manage,” she said.

Health concerns increase with excessive drinking. The World Health Organization has indicated that alcohol consumption is associated with risks of liver diseases, heart diseases, and various types of cancer. In 2020, liver cancer, a disease known to be related to alcohol consumption, has nearly half (45.3%) of its new cases occurring in China.

At a business dinner, drinking is often not fully voluntary, as individuals may feel pressure from their managers and peers. Sally Zhang, a 25-year-old woman working at a technology company in Shenzhen, expressed her frustration with this situation.

“The pressure to drink begins as soon as you sit down,” Sally said. During seating arrangements, heavy drinkers are often designated as the “wine commander (酒司令),” a role that involves sitting near the senior leader and being responsible for pouring wine and, more importantly, persuading others to drink.

“The ‘wine commander’ usually tells me, ‘It’s okay, just a little bit; everyone else is drinking, so you should too,’ or something like, ‘We don’t need to work tomorrow; just drink it, and we’ll send you home,’” Sally recalled of the phrases she heard when pressured to drink. “Sometimes, I can decline by using excuses like saying I have an allergy.”

The power dynamics underlying drinking culture are also disliked by the younger generation. Agatha Wong, a 28-year-old woman who worked at the overseas subsidiary of a state-owned mining company, described the toasting rules in her previous workplace.

“First, you need to toast the highest-ranking boss, then the external guests. You must finish a full glass and say something to show your sincerity,” Wong explained. While working at mining sites in Eastern European countries like Serbia and Poland, drinking became a way to pass the time with her colleagues, occurring about four times a week.

“They told me drinking is a part of your work, and it will help your promotion,” Wong said.

In Sally’s company, toasting the high-ranking leader meant being prepared to demonstrate loyalty. “The leaders would ask: Are you sincere? Are you showing respect to me? How much are you willing to commit to your department?” Sally recalled, noting that downing a large amount of alcohol was often seen as the only way to provide a positive answer to these questions.

The risk of sexual harassment increases in drinking scenarios. “Some people just cannot control their mouths and hands,” Wong said, noting that she was verbally harassed several times, even though she had declined as many drinks as possible, using her boyfriend, who works at the same company, as an excuse.

In 2021, Alibaba, one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world, was embroiled in a sexual assault scandal following an incident of forced drinking. A female employee alleged on social media that her manager raped her after she was forced to drink until she passed out  during a business trip.

The History of This Norm

Although the consumption of alcoholic beverages can be traced back to ancient China, when various drinking games developed, the prevalent culture of forced drinking in today’s China has a history of only a few decades, largely influenced by the Soviet Union.

“The current drinking culture in China is not an inheritage of traditional Chinese culture; it originated in the military,” said Guo Fusheng, a seasoned wine industry professional and founder of the wine retailer brand “Wo Ai Wo Jiu” (I Love My Wine). Influenced by the heavy-drinking Russians, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which cooperated closely with the Soviet Union during World War II and the Chinese Civil War, developed a drinking tradition.

“The military culture shaped the government and later expanded into the business world,” Guo continued.

Drinking as an expression of respect and loyalty could also be explained by the military stem, where obedience was highly valued. Guo shared his experience of drinking with a retired army general: “He could not drink at that age, but he would ask others to drink. For his subordinates, as a military norm, you must consume the wine—actually, even poison—served by the senior official.”

As a businessman, Guo also consumed excessive amounts of alcohol for his sales during the heyday of wine consumption in China, prior to Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign.

“When we tried to sell Lafite before the extravagant spending restrictions, we filled a 500ml wine glass with Lafite and finished it to demonstrate our sincerity and respect for the senior officers,” Guo recalled.

How will the Future be?

In recent years, the ban on alcohol consumption for civil servants has become stricter in China. In most regions, drinking during office hours and at official events is prohibited for government officers, with some cities extending the ban to non-working hours.

For private companies, however, there are no regulations or laws governing workplace drinking culture; everything is dictated by social norms.

Despite widespread complaints about drinking culture among the youth, many young people still partake in alcohol—some only drink as little as necessary to be polite, while the more ambitious actively toast to enhance their chances of promotion.

Nancy had her secret tips for drinking less, drawn from her experience in her position. She would add ice or water to her drink or substitute whiskey with non-alcoholic beverages that resembled it. Additionally, when planning her leave, she prioritized taking time off during business dinner dates.

As Sally observed, active drinkers in her company were generally more trusted by managers and found it easier to get promoted. “This is especially true for female drinkers, who tend to be promoted faster. Many female seniors in my company are heavy drinkers; they are regarded as ‘heroines,’” she noted.

Not being ambitious in her career, Sally only took a few sips during business dinners. In contrast, her peers, who were more career-oriented but had low tolerance for alcohol, felt compelled to drink more than they could handle and often ended up passing out.

“I don’t think drinking culture will disappear; that’s too idealistic. However, I believe it may be weakened as our younger generation enters management positions,” Sally said, noting that some of her friends who work in companies with a younger average age are not under the same pressure to drink.

However, while hoping the next generation of leaders will reform the drinking norms, there is a paradox: those who are able and willing to toast more have greater opportunities to enter management positions.

“We don’t know whether drinking culture will persist, and we hope it won’t,” Nancy expressed, a sentiment echoed by her peers. “Everyone can see your daily work performance, so you don’t need to drink to demonstrate your capabilities or show respect.”

Nancy conveyed her attitude by drinking as little as possible, but that was the most she could do to avoid being too “rebellious.”

“I still need my salary,” Nancy said.

* For privacy reasons, the photos used in this article are intended to protect the identities of the interviewed sources.