The Chinese love a tipple and the all-purpose word jiǔ (酒) covers quite a range of alcoholic drinks.
Toasting
Chinese toast with the word ganbei ("empty glass", bottoms up), and traditionally you are expected to drain the glass in one swig. Toasts usually involve only two people, rather than the whole group as in the West. During a meal with locals, the visitor is often expected to drink one glass with each person present; sometimes there may be considerable pressure to do this.
Exercise caution. Fortunately, the glasses are usually small — even beer is often drunk from an oversized shot glass. Also, Chinese beer is generally around 3% alcohol, so it is 'weaker' than Western standards. However, the rice wines and baijiu (see below) are definitely potent (some around 56% alcohol). As such baijiu is often drunk in small shot glasses for a good reason. US president Nixon practiced drinking before his first trip to China to be ready to drink with Mao Zedong. Unless you are used to imbibing heavily, be very careful when drinking with Chinese.
If you want to take it easier but still be sociable, say "suibian" before you make the toast, then drink only part of the glass. It may also be possible to have three toasts (traditionally signifying friendship) with the entire company, rather than one separate toast for every individual present.
Be sure to reciprocate any toast to you. For failing to do so Gen./Secr. State Alexander Haig and his staff were sent out on West Lake in Hangzhou in an unheated boat with no food in the middle of winter and left there for a longer while. This was back in 1970 when they came to set up Pres. Nixon's historic visit. Beijing had to intervene to tell the local officials to be nice to them anyhow and they got a "warmer" send-off when they flew out of Shanghai.
Alcohol
Beer (啤酒 píjiǔ) is very common in China and is served in nearly every restaurant. The most famous brand is Tsingtao (青島), from Qingdao, which was at one point a German concession. Other brands abound, generally light beers in a pilsner or lager style, usually around 3%-4% alcohol. Some companies (Tsingtao, Yanjing) also make a dark beer (heipijiu 黑啤酒). The typical price for beer is about ￥2.5-4 in a grocery store, ￥4 to ￥8 in a restaurant, around ￥10 in an ordinary bar, and ￥20-30 or more in a fancier bar.
Unfortunately, most places outside of major cities serve beer at room temperature, regardless of season, though places that cater to tourists have it cold.
Red wine is common and much of it is reasonably priced, from ￥15 in a grocery store, about ￥100-150 in a fancy bar. Anyone used to European, Australian, or Californian wines will find the general quality in China appalling. There are perhaps some exceptions. But an experienced drinker of wine is unlikely to be satisfied with Chinese wines as they are made today. Bars commonly serve red wine over ice and sometimes mixed with Sprite, like a 'wine cooler'. There are also a few white and sparkling white wines. Quality on those is reportedly better than the reds.
Xinjiang offers decent wines; Suntime [6], with a passable Cabernet Sauvignon; Yizhu, located in Yili and specializing in ice wine; and the French-owned Les Champs D'or, for best overall winery in China. Ningxia and Gansu produce some decent wines (hot and dry in summer and cold in winter) while what comes out of Shandong and Hebei are blah (warm and moist in summer and not so cold in winter). Imperial Horse and Xixia labels from Ningxia, Mogao Ice Wine from Gansu and maybe Castle Estates from Shandong are decent brands with a small history of quality about them. Yunnan wines are generally rated highly, but not all of them deserve it; Shangrila wine from around Zhongdian is one that does.
Great Wall and Dynasty are large brands with a number of wines at various prices; their cheaper (under ￥40) offerings are generally not impressive. Chang Yu is another large brand; some of their low end wines are a bit better.
Note that the word jiǔ 酒 is often loosely translated as "wine" by Chinese beverage firms and English speakers (see below). If you are looking for Western-style grape wines be sure to ask for 葡萄酒 (pútaojiǔ - grape wine) to ensure you are getting what you want.
There are also several brands and types of rice wine. These do not generally much resemble Japanese sake, the only rice wine well-known in the West. Travelers' reactions to these vary widely.
Báijiǔ (白酒), a Chinese white lightning. Chinese frequently mistranslate baijiu (lit. "white spirits") as "white wine", but at 40 to 65% alcohol this sorghum-based plonk is far from it. Maotai (茅台), China's national liquor, is a famous and comparatively expensive type of baijiu from Guizhou. The cheapest baijiu is the Beijing brewed Erguotou (二锅头) which comes in two variants - the clear bottle (56% alcohol) and the green bottle (65% alcohol). Ordering "Xiao Er" (Erguotou's diminutive nickname) will likely raise a few eyebrows and a chuckle from working class Chinese. Baijiu will typically be served at banquets and festivals in tiny shot glasses. Toasts are ubiquitous at banquets or dinners on special occasions. Be warned very cheap baijiu will actually BE white spirits or even agricultral fertiliser, even the good stuff will give a severe taste shock, unless you are used to strong spirits. Baijiu is definitely an acquired taste, but once the taste is acquired, it's quite fun to "ganbei" a glass or two at a banquet.
Chinese brandy is excellent value, about the same price as wine and generally far more palatable than the baijiu. A ￥16-20 local brandy is not a ￥200+ imported brand-name cognac, but it is close enough that you should only buy the cognac if money doesn't matter. Expats debate the relative merits of brandies from French-owned Louis Wann [7], Chinese brand Changyu [8], and several others. All are drinkable.
The Chinese are also great fans of various supposedly medicinal liquors, which usually contain exotic herbs and/or animal parts. Some of these have prices in the normal range and include ingredients like ginseng. These can be palatable enough, if tending toward sweetness. Others, with unusual ingredients (snakes, turtles, etc.) and steep pricetags, are probably best left to those that enjoy them.
Bars, discos and karaoke
There are no pubs, except in areas with a lot of tourists or expats such as Yangshuo or Shenzhen. The few there are tend to be quite good, though.
To just go out for a few drinks with friends, pick a local restaurant and drink beer at around ￥5 for a 600 ml bottle. It will be Chinese lager, around 3% alcohol, with a limited choice of brand and may be served warm.
In discos and fancy bars with entertainment, you normally buy beer ￥100 at a time; this gets you anywhere from 4 imported beer (Heineken, Bud, Corona, Sol, ..) to 10 local beers. A few places offer cocktails; fewer have good ones.
Other drinks are sold only by the bottle, not by the glass. Red wine is in the ￥80-200 range (served with ice and Sprite) and mediocre imported whiskies (Chivas, Johnny Walker, Jim Beam, Jack Daniels; extremely rarely single malts) and cognacs, ￥300-800. Both are often mixed with tea. Vodka, tequila and rum are less common, but sometimes available. Bogus "brand name" products are fairly common and may ruin your next day.
These places often have bar girls, young women who drink a lot and want to play drinking games to get you to consume more. They get a commission on whatever you buy. In general, these girls will not leave the bar with you; they are professional flirts, not prostitutes.
Karaoke (卡拉OK) is huge in China and can be broadly split into two categories. More common is the no-frills karaoke box or KTV, where you rent a room, bring your friends and the house gives you a mike and sells you booze. Much favored by students, these are cheap and fun with the right crowd, although you need at least a few people for a memorable night. Bringing your own booze can keep the price tag down but must be done on the sly - many places have windows in the door so the staff can make sure you only drink liquor they sold to you.
Rather different is the distinctly dodgier special KTV lounge, more oriented to businessmen entertaining clients or letting their hair down, where the house provides anything and everything at a price. At these often opulent establishments — over-the-top Roman and Egyptian themes are standard — you'll be joined by short-skirted professional karaoke girls, who charge by the hour for the pleasure of their company and whose services may not be limited to just singing badly and pouring your drinks. It's highly advisable not to venture into these unless you're absolutely sure somebody else is footing the bill, which can easily run into hundreds of dollars even if you keep your pants on.
As elsewhere, never NEVER accept an invitation to a restaurant or bar from an available-looking woman who just picked you up in the street sometime after sundown. At best, suggest a different place. If she refuses, drop her on the spot. More than likely, she will steer you into a quiet little place with too many doormen and you will find yourself saddled with a modest meal and beer that will cost you ￥1,000 or worse. And the doormen won't let you leave till you pay up. This is somewhat rare. But it does happen.
Tea
At the risk of stating the obvious, there's a lot of tea (茶 chá) in China. Green tea (绿茶 lǜchá) is served up for free in almost every restaurant, the most common types being green gunpowder tea (珠茶 zhūchá), so named not after the taste but after the appearance of the bunched-up leaves used to brew it (the Chinese name "pearl tea" is rather more poetic), jasmine tea (茉莉茶 mòlichá) scented with jasmine flowers, and the half-fermented oolong (烏龍 wūlóng). However, specialist tea houses serve a vast variety of brews, ranging from the pale, delicate white tea (白茶 báichá) to the powerful fermented and aged pǔ'ěrchá (普洱茶); check prices carefully before ordering as some of the best varieties can be very pricey indeed.
Various areas of China have famous teas. Hangzhou, near Shanghai, is famed for its "Dragon Well" (龙井 lóngjǐng) tea. Mount Wuyi in Fujian has "Dark Red Robe" (大红袍 dàhóngpáo) tea. Pǔ'ěr in Yunnan has pǔ'ěrchá (普洱茶), named for a city in the central part of the province.
Most tea shops will be more than happy to let you sit down and try different varieties of tea. "Ten Fu Tea" is a national chain, and in Beijing "Wu Yu Tai" is the one some locals say they favour.
Normal Chinese teas are always drunk neat, with the use of sugar or milk unknown. However, in some areas you find Hong Kong style "milk tea" (奶茶 nǎichá) or Tibetan "butter tea". The type of tea that is common in the West, Indian or Sri Lankan, is known in China as "red tea" (紅茶 hóngchá).
Coffee
Coffee (咖啡 kāfēi) is becoming quite popular in urban China, though it is nearly impossible to find in smaller towns.
Several chains of coffee shops have branches in many cities, including Starbucks, UBC Coffee (Shang Dao Kafei in Chinese), Ming Tien Coffee Language (Is that supposed to be "lounge"?) and SPR (the best of them). All offer coffee and both Chinese and Western food, generally with good air conditioning and nice decor, at fairly high prices, ￥25 or so a cup.
There are also lots of smaller independent coffee shops or local chains. These may also be high priced, but often they are around ￥15 a cup. Quality varies from excellent to abysmal.
For cheap coffee just to stave off withdrawal symptoms, there are several options. Go to a Western restaurant chain (KFC, McD, etc.) for some ￥6 coffee. Or almost any supermarket will have both canned cold coffee and packets of Nescafe (pre-mixed with whitener and sugar), just add hot water.
Cold drinks
Many drinks that, in the West, are usually served chilled or with ice are served at room temperature in China. Ask for beer or coke in a restaurant, and it may arrive at room temperature. Water will generally be served hot. That is actually good, because only boiled (or bottled) water is safe to drink, but it's not pleasant to drink hot water in the summer.
You can get cold drinks from small grocery stores and restaurants, just look for the cooler (even though it might not actually be cool). You can try bringing a cold beverage into a restaurant. Most small restaurants won't mind--if they even notice--and there is no such thing as a "cork" charge in China. Remember that most people will be drinking tea, which is free anyway, so the restaurant is probably not expecting to profit on your beverage consumption.
Asking for ice is best avoided. Many, perhaps most, places just don't have it. The ice they do have may well be made from tap water, and so be unsafe for travelers. |
