Jodi in China

I am learning that in China schmoozing comes before successful research. So I thought I would post a few pictures of our schmoozing before I tell of any of our adventures up in the alpine meadows with the Tibetan Yak herders. 

Chinese social events are very very heavy on the obligatory eating and/or drinking. As you are eating or talking or doing karaoke (yep, I’ve had to do karaoke and it is a good story that I will save for another day), you are constantly approached by someone toasting you. When someone toasts you, you clink glasses with him/her and nod and smile and act really formal. Then it is necessary to drink every drop in your glass. And somehow your glass is never empty (who keeps filling that d**n thing?). 

It is never ok to decline a toast. And just as important, it is always necessary to return the toast at some point in the evening. There is even this rule that when you are clinking the glasses, that you must make sure that the rim of your glass hits the other person’s glass below its rim, because this is showing that you esteem that person more highly than yourself. How do you keep all these rules straight? Especially when you’ve had too much to drink (whether you wanted to or not)? When it’s not really an alcohol social event, obligatory eating is substituted. Food and tea are urged upon you to the point that it is rude to refuse. Obligatory drinking and eating is not my thing, but its hard to get too grumpy, because these Chinese people are just so darn nice and generous, that I just can’t offend them by refusing.