Gan bei

I just came back from a fancy department dinner with the dean. Let me quickly set the scene: private room with private bathroom, private wait staff, huge round table set with fancy cloth napkins folded into elaborate designs, chopstick rests, spoon rests, doilies, bamboo rests for the hot damp napkins that were handed around with tongs.

As we were making small talk before the meal, I was casually asked (but with much curiosity) whether I drank. Because Chinese women don't usually drink much, and I didn't want them to think I was a man, I said that I only drank very rarely. Nevertheless, my fate was sealed: I was to be a participant of the drinking ritual that followed, and continued throughout the meal. The dean made a quick gesture to our waitress, who quickly came around filling everyone's glass with beer. It started off fine. The dean held up his glass, looked around the table, and said "cheers everyone!" And we all drank a little. Then the real fun began. The dean turned to the professor next to him and said "Professor Li, let's drink". And they clinked their glasses, and chugged til they were empty. Before you could even blink, the waitress had come by and refilled. Then the dean looked at me and was like "Alexis, welcome to our department. Gan bei!" (That means "empty your glass".) So I had no choice but to chug with him, while everyone watched. This continued around the table, with every possible permutation. Professor Li drank with me. Professor Wang drank with Professor Hong. I drank with Professor Meng. And so on. This enforced drinking continued throughout the meal.

By the end of the evening, at least three professors were wasted. One was on his third cigarette. Another stumbled on his way to the bathroom. One of the women had turned bright red from the alcohol and kept apologizing for how sensitive her skin was. Everyone was loud and jolly. I was one "gan bei" away from dancing on the table. (Ha - not quite, but I was definitely feeling it.) The meal closed with all of us being forced to eat dumplings ("they'll counteract the alcohol") and with the dean announcing that drinking is the best way to overcome jetlag.

One of my friends once shared his idea of measuring the impact of banquets on the health of Chinese officials. At the time, I thought he just meant all the food. Silly me.