BTW, I read James McGregor's book and it's indeed very good.

1. Early on you may be asked whether you can hold your alcohol. Don't say yes unless you mean it and are planning on proving it immediately. The Chinese seem to think that Westerners are SO cute when they're drunk...

2. Watch out for the old "get you drunk and then have you sign a contract" trick.

Thanks for checking in. I have always enjoyed your Across the Pacific blog also and I would love to see you post on it more often.

Thanks for checking in. Good advice regarding the "old'get you drunk and then sign a contract' trick." Are you personally aware of that ever actually having happened in China? I am aware of one instance of that and that was actually in Alaska.

Having been involved with Korea and Russia for over 15 years, I know every single trick in the book to appear to have consumed a huge amount while actually having had almost none. I am looking into patenting some of my tricks.

Thanks for checking in and thanks for the thanks. I linked to your blog because it is interesting and good, i.e., no thanks necessary.

Thanks for checking in.

The thing I learned a long time ago is to always decline the airport pick-up and drop-off. Westerners tend to love that because it makes them feel important and they usually think it is a sign of friendship and closeness. I view it as an attempt to monitor my every movement and prevent me from talking with people with whom my "attempted minders" do not want me talking. I haven't accepted such a ride for probably ten years. Gives me an idea for another post, entitled, Refuse the Ride and Do The Deal, or something like that.

As for the women, I have a client who, whenever possible, sends a woman from his company to China for this very reason. No kidding.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/104/open_mintz.html

Thanks for checking back in and for recommending that Fast Company article. I actually talked about it in this post:

I pulled this quote from the article, because I loved it: "Why would you think people in government here all think the same when there's nowhere else in the world where that's the case?" Mintz asks. "It's like thinking every Chinese guy knows kung fu."

I do not remember the airport pickup part so I will go back and read it again.

I know how hard it is to refuse Baiju. The worst is when it is the only liquid supplied at all with a meal. If you can only toast with beer you will be fine, but if you find a particularly determined Baijiu toaster it gets painful really quick.

One thing I did during a big Chinese New Year diner was change tables to one that drank less. It is common to move tables and toast at other tables so I just stayed at one to get away from the guy from Lenovo that always wanted to do another toast with Baijiu.

Sometimes it seems to me that the beer is negotiated to flow for a particular period of time and then it ceases flowing, where as at this diner every table got an entire bottle of Baijiu and though the table seated twelve it seemed to me just the two of us were drinking.

Women can get out of toasting easier than a guy can. You will make friends if you toast often, just try to ensure it is little glasses of beer rather than several ounces of Baijiu you have in your glass at the time.

Good tips. Here's one more. Always go to dinner with an American from your company who drinks Baiju. The Baiju drinking American will (certainly as the night wears on) end up talking with the Baiju drinking Chinese, leaving you to hob-nob with the beer drinkers. I tell you this works every time.