原声播报88：从阿里巴巴性侵案看“酒桌文化”潜规则

Why Forced Drinking Culture Is Worse Than You Think

从阿里巴巴性侵案看“酒桌文化”潜规则

【文中生词】

copious 很多的

allegedly 据说

banquet 盛宴

boozing 豪饮

liven 使快活

【词汇延展】

workplace bully 职场霸凌

kleptocrat 贪官污吏

targeted jokes 针对性玩笑

verbal abuse 言语虐待

sexual harassment 性骚扰

sexual assault 性侵犯

【单词详解】

chug

v．发出突突声；一饮而尽

to move making the sound of an engine running slowly

to drink all of sth quickly without stopping

词组

chug along 缓缓前行

例句

While you were absent, the office probably continued to chug along without you.

你不在的时候，办公室继续运转。

He can really chug his beer.

他能一口气喝把啤酒喝完。

scenario

n. 设想

a description of how things might happen in the future

词组

scenario analysis 情境分析

scenario planning 前景计划

usage scenario 使用场景

worst-case scenario 最坏的情况

例句

The worst-case scenario is an aircraft will crash if a bird destroys an engine.

如果小鸟毁坏了一部发动机，最坏的情况是飞机坠毁。

The conflict degenerating into civil war is everybody’s nightmare scenario

这场冲突恶化成内战成为每个人的噩梦。

As I am sure many of you will know, concern over pressure at work to chug copious amounts of alcohol has gone very public after an Alibaba employee made some shocking accusations. The unidentified employee says she was sexually harassed by a client and then raped by her own manager after she fell unconscious. All of this allegedly happened after being forced into consuming alcohol during a client dinner. Alibaba has since fired the manager in question and is cooperating with a police investigation. 

Now, the story has not only fanned the flames of the Metoo discussion in China, but it has also sparked debate on the country’s quanjiu劝酒culture. That’s the culture of forcing others to drink alcohol.

In order to get a better idea of the quanjiu phenomenon, I want to take a look at an eye-opening blog piece that Nie Huihua has written. Nie is a professor at the School of Economics of Renmin University of China.

Ok, so let’s start with a little bit of background. What do we need to know about quanjiu?

Okay so, the professor who wrote this piece says that the drinking culture is apparent in a number of east Asian nations and that includes Japan and South Korea. And he says it is deep-rooted in China’s traditional culture: he points out for example old sayings like “a banquet without alcohol is no banquet at all.” 

And a lot of quanjiu customs apparently relates to an idea that personal connections are more important than agreements and contracts.  Therefore, boozing seems to be a way of bonding with others and gaining their trust. As the professor puts it, because excessive drinking is harmful to health, one can naturally gain others’ trust by drinking — making it a way of paying a price for business. In this kind of environment, it, perhaps counterintuitively, seems that the more you drink, the more you respect and the more you care for the other party. That’s because you are willing to sacrifice your health for the relationship. 

So, drinking is like a way of testing someone else’s commitment?

Yeah, that seems to be the case.

And the professor also says that in psychological terms, alcohol makes people feel more relaxed, less defensive and more likely to speak their mind. So some people also use alcohol to better get to know the other person’s real thoughts, and attitudes.

And as I know from personal experience, and I think it is a pretty common experience, there are definitely certain scenarios where it’s hard to refuse.

Yes, that’s right. So, if you’re a so-called subordinate and you’re drinking with someone in a higher position, then it’s definitely much harder to refuse the drink. According to the professor, it is an unspoken rule that a person’s job title is inversely proportional to his or her obligation for drinking on these occasions. Those in positions of seniority can drink less, while those lower down the foodchain have to drink a lot more. And then there’s also a lot of pressure on sales personnel to knock back drinks when they’re with customers and trying to get business done. As the opinion piece puts it, sales personnel have to drink. Drinking is what finalizes a deal.

And is this kind of pressure evenly distributed between men and women?

So, it’s quite interesting because the article actually says that on occasions, where both genders are present, women may actually end up facing more peer pressure to drink up. That’s because usually men outnumber women at dinner parties so they will often ask the ladies to “drink up with them to liven things up.” And if women want to just stick to consuming soft drinks, then they cannot apparently blend into the party. On top of that, if there’s a scenario where one woman takes the initiative and decides that she’s gonna drink alcohol, it will then be even harder for her other female counterparts to refuse drinking. According to the professor, most women really hate these occasions and it all really reflects on gender discrimination in this male-dominated culture.

Now, there is a lot more to this blog piece, including why the professor argues that in order to become a modern market economy, China must abandon such a drinking culture. And to read up on that, you can head to our website Caixin Global.com or check out our app.