At most weddings that makeup artist Chen Xue works these days, guests no longer toast the newlyweds with alcohol.
“It’s perfectly normal,” said Chen, 27. “Who wants champagne when you can have bubble tea?”
Alcohol has been a fixture of professional and social life in China for decades. But now, industry executives and analysts say, young people are rejecting pressure to drink excessively, or at all — part of a global trend that is boosting health outcomes but challenging a multitrillion-dollar business.
In the United States, the sober-curious movement is driving demand for alcohol-free drinks and bars. Germany, the home of Oktoberfest, now leads the world in consumption of nonalcoholic brews. In South Korea, “morning raves” — dance parties with coffee instead of cocktails — have become common.
In China, alcohol has traditionally played a key role in building relationships, with toasts often expected at business dinners, family celebrations and other gatherings. For many, the pressure to drink — or at least to signal participation by nursing a glass in hand — has been difficult to resist.
As an account manager for an industrial park in Xi’an, Xu Changpeng, 32, spent a year traveling the country to solicit business from local officials. Alcohol, he said, was essential to breaking the ice. Initial meetings often consisted solely of toasting, with no substantive business talk allowed.
“Based on vibes from the drinking, we could roughly tell if we are getting a deal,” Xu said. “Some … forced people to drink to test how much we are willing to cooperate.”
But growing numbers of young Chinese are reducing alcohol consumption for health, fitness and financial reasons.
Production of baijiu, the potent national spirit, has declined for nine straight years to a quarter of its 2016 peak, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, a crisis for the $170 billion industry. Only a fifth of respondents ages 25 to 35 named baijiu, a clear liquor typically distilled from sorghum, as their preferred alcoholic drink, according to a survey commissioned last year by the distiller Wuliangye.
Drinking less “reduces the risk of alcohol-related chronic diseases and is undoubtedly good news for public health,” said Pan Xiongfei, an epidemiologist at Sichuan University.
Researchers who tracked more than 500,000 Chinese adults reported in 2023 that alcohol consumption was associated with an increased risk of more than 60 diseases.
“As the evidence accumulates, it’s inevitable that more people are recognizing the dangers of excessive drinking,” Pan said. The Chinese government’s most recent guidelines advise adults to limit alcohol intake to no more than 15 grams, roughly equivalent to a shot of baijiu or a glass of wine.
Pan said consumption by the Chinese population should be lower than that of Western populations because a relatively high percentage of East Asians carry a genetic variant associated with alcohol flush reaction, also known as “Asian glow” or “Asian flush,” which impairs the body’s ability to metabolize alcohol.
The decline in consumption reflects a significant shift in the culture.
“In traditional Chinese banquets, baijiu is far more than an alcoholic beverage: It is a catalyst of new connections and a measurement of loyalty,” industry analyst Cai Xuefei said. “The intense flavor and high alcohol content have helped make communal consumption a ritual, through which people build trust and release emotions.”
But young people aren’t buying it.
An anti-corruption campaign launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2012 imposed strict limits on lavish official banquets, government-funded entertainment and the use of expensive alcohol by officials. In the late 2010s, the widely reported deaths of several people after alcohol-fueled workplace gatherings sparked debate over coercive drinking practices.
In 2020, a new employee of Xiamen International Bank wrote on social media of being slapped by a supervisor for refusing a toast.
The post sparked widespread online discussion; On the microblogging site Weibo, the related hashtag #NewHireSlappedForRefusingToast drew more than 870 million views. Amplified by state media and public commentators, it renewed scrutiny of drinking in professional settings.
Xu, the industrial park account manager, described arriving at a dinner in Shandong and being served both wine and baijiu.
The host, a county official responsible for attracting investment, downed three cups of baijiu and urged guests to follow suit. Xu, who considered himself a heavy drinker, drank several rounds and threw up. He was forced to return to the table and finish his drinks. He continued until he passed out.
“It burns your throat and stinks. And the long aftertaste is overwhelming, worse than a mix of funky cheese and fermented juice,” he said. He has since quit the job, and drinking, to start his own IT business.
The decline in consumption has been a blow to makers and distillers. “Our market is shrinking,” said Chai Jia, owner of a small baijiu distillery in Harbin. “Young people are not buying baijiu, and all the makers in town are scaling back production.”
Chai proposed making lighter drinks for young people, but her brewmaster father vetoed the idea.
Larger distilleries, however, are scrambling to win back young customers. Some have offered lower-alcohol products and smaller bottles. Some have partnered with bars to experiment with baijiu-based cocktails.
In 2022 and 2023, Moutai announced crossovers including baijiu-flavored lattes, ice cream and chocolate, but it soon withdrew them. They made the brand more accessible to young buyers, acting general manager Wang Li said last month, but “added nothing” to its luxury image.
For young drinkers, baijiu’s challenge is not only its taste but also its association with an older generation and traditions, said Xiao Ling, a food and beverage critic in Guangzhou.
“Young people are not rejecting alcohol: They are rejecting the older generation’s way of drinking,” he said. “They drink when they feel like it, not because they have to.”
Chen, the makeup artist, returned home to rural Henan in February to celebrate the Lunar New Year with family. When her mother and grandmother initiated toasts, she raised a cup of tea.
“Alcohol is replaceable,” she said. “And what you drink is not a big deal.”
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