Chinese Drinking Culture

[Outofin]

How to translate 酒令 and 划拳?

I've never seen anyone doing 酒令. It's probably only for high class and I suspect we've lost that tradition. But I think most old man know how to and really like 划拳. It seems to be a very fun and competitive game. And it sounds like music when they yell at each other with great rhythm and suddenly burst to laugh when one wins. I didn't understand how the game was played until now I just checked Baidu Baike. (I was listening to 布衣乐队's 喝不完的酒 and thought, well, that sounds fun.)

[Jim]

I've never seen 酒令 played either, but 划拳 reminds me of a game called spoof we'd play back in England, in that it involves guessing the combined amount of things - fingers or coins - all players show. Not that that would necessarily be a good translation - not sure how many people outside England have heard of spoof and obviously it's a bit different anyway. Would something like "a drinker's finger-counting guessing game" not do?

[studentyoung]

Just for your reference, Outofin.

酒令：

http://dict.cnki.net/dict_result.aspx?searchword=%e9%85%92%e4%bb%a4&style=&tjType=sentence

划拳：http://dict.cn/%E7%8C%9C%E6%9E%9A.htm

Cheers!

[liuzhou]

划拳 - the bane of my existence!

The finger guessing game. A bunch of drunken fools screaming at the top of their voices in Cantonese ( a language they don't usually speak - or can't) totally disturbing everyone else in the bar / restaurant.

Most of my Chinese friends hate it and consider it to be highly selfish. Several restaurants round here have banned it.

This is my opinion from 1995:

Imagine yourself in the situation I was in but a few days ago. A regular occurrence.

It is a small restaurant. Nice food, friendly staff, only four tables. I am with a friend/colleague. We have some stuff to discuss. At another table is a group of girl students from the nearby college. They are happily giggling about boyfriends and comparing the fashionability of their various mobile phones. At another table is a small group of middle aged women happily giggling about the group of students and comparing the arguments they have won over bean sprout pricing in the local market bargaining sessions. The fourth table is empty.

Then six youngish men come in, order some food and drink and start the dreaded, bane of my existence: the "finger game". This is a drinking game. I have long since come to the conclusion that most Chinese men don't like drinking alcohol, so they have to dare each other to drink it. The 'finger game' consists of holding out your fingers to denote a number and yelling a different number (always in Cantonese, whether you speak that language or not.) The main rule is that this must be done at the top of your vocal amplitude range. By some esoteric means they deduce that someone has lost and has to take a drink of the local brew as a punishment. As the game progresses and the combatants become more drunk, the volume level rises until it is impossible to hear anything else. The girl students give up and prepare to leave, the market bargainers consider heading back to market to peacefully renegotiate the UN Charter on duck egg prices and my friend and I ...

Well, I have a cunning plan. Everyone in China that I have ever spoken to about this phenomena agrees that it is selfish, anti-social noise pollution only ever played by the dregs of society such as the unemployed and government officials, but no-one ever complains or challenges it. As a guest here, I will not do so either. However, I wish to continue my conversation with my friend, I haven't finished my fish head soup and I'm damned if I'm going to move because of a bunch of loudmouthed selfish meat-heads.

Fortunately, in a moment of hilarity in the local department store last week, I made an essential purchase. I lean into my bag and pull out my megaphone! I talk into it.

"So we should have the meeting at 3 pm tomorrow. "

I hand the megaphone to my friend who replies, "Maybe four would be better."

The drunks at the offending table fall into complete silence. The girls students clap. The shopping ladies smile benevolently. But I know the truth.

Next time the 'finger game' scum will bring megaphones.

[Outofin]

Hey, I prefer the sounds of finger game over giggling girls and chatting women.

Seriously, good write-up, liuzhou, very vivid observation. The perspective and style reminds me a popular blog called "talk talk china". I was an avid reader but the blog is unfortunately closed a few years ago.