Drinking in China is quite an experience. If you're a light drinker, then you shouldn't even get started here. The local customs may vary from village to village, but the basics stay the same.

A night of drinking usually starts with eating, though its not a glass of wine with a soup and salad type thing. If you are drinking and eating at the same time, you've got to pick one to focus on. If you attempt to do both, you will regret it later. If you concentrate on eating you should refuse any drinks that come your way. Even if your host persists, you should make up an excuse like, "I'm allergic" or "I'm pregnant" or "It's against my religion". Whether it's true or not, and how valid it seems is irrelevant. Just "not feeling like it" is unacceptable in most cases. If you choose to drink, you will need to save room in you stomach for beer so don't worry about eating too much.

Because sharing a glass of beer with someone is a sign of respect, EVERYONE will want to drink with you. In many cases, there will be about ten people eating and drinking with you. That's ten glasses which vary in size from water glasses to small glasses about half the size of that - about five glasses per bottle, so you're guaranteed to drink two bottle of beer in about twenty minutes.

Once everyone gets a buzz going, there will usually be a few males in the group who perhaps feel an bit awkward with foreigner at the table (not in racist way, just not sure what to do). To ease their awkwardness, they will probably try and drink with you a second time. When all is said and done, I would say that you'll average three to five bottles of beer per hour depending on your age, weight, and sex.

If you continue to drink after dinner (which you probably will), you have an 80 percent chance of going to KTV. Singing, Games, and a meal afterwards will ensue.

The funny thing about drinking in China is that everyone's face turns really red. After being here for so long, I never really though much of it, but I learned that it's a condition called Asian flush or the alcohol flush reaction. Many people in China think it's a problem with the liver, but it's actually that they're lacking an enzyme ALDH2. I've tried to explain this to my friends but no one really believes me. People here take it as something that can't be helped but the Asian community in the West has started to find cures for the so-called "Asian flush".