Imagine this: You’re at an extravagant business banquet in China. The table is overflowing with exquisite dishes and bottles of powerful liquor. And the host is visibly drunk after rounds and rounds of toasts — red-faced, bloodshot eyes, maybe even stumbling or vomiting.

In most cultures, drunkenness at a formal event might be considered embarrassing or inappropriate — or at least not a desirable trait in a potential business partner. And yet, instead of facing criticism, the host is praised and described by the guests as trustworthy and someone who can be worked with. Why?

To uncover the answer, my research partners and I spent two years attending business banquets across China, from Guangdong province in the south to Hebei province surrounding Beijing.

A ritual meal

My first opportunity to take part in a banquet came through a local businessman friend in the eastern Chinese city of Jiujiang, who kindly offered me a guest of honor position at an event he was attending. In this role — designated as a close friend to the main guest but one with no formal affiliation to either company — I was able to observe the proceedings while avoiding some of the drinking responsibilities.

Initially, I had assumed it would be an extravagant dinner where people drank and talked. But I soon realized banquets are far more complex than that: They are immersive rituals, rich in tradition and symbolism, in which every detail carries meaning.

The host of the banquet was the representative from another company who wanted to sell a product management system to my friend’s firm. The setting was carefully arranged: semi-private rooms in a locally renowned hotel restaurant in downtown Jiujiang.

But it was the seating arrangements that caught my attention. The seating chart resembled a chessboard: The host sat facing the door, with the most important guest seated to their left. Everyone’s seat was meticulously assigned according to their seniority within the company, alternating on either side of the host and the guests.

Then there was the alcohol — always a luxury brand, usually Moutai. The host and guests would wax poetic about its smoothness, its unique production process, and how difficult it was to acquire a genuine Moutai. Personally, I could hardly tell the difference — they all left a burning sensation down to my stomach. Yet my interlocutors patiently explained that serving Moutai was a subtle way to highlight the significance of the occasion and ensure everyone felt valued.

At that first banquet, each of us was handed a small, delicate 10-milliliter glass, paired with a 100-milliliter pitcher to measure how much we had consumed. The host opened with a collective toast, thanking us for coming. Then the real work began: They circled the table, toasting each guest individually.

These toasts always start with the most important guest, the host holding their glass slightly lower than their counterpart in an unspoken gesture of humility and respect. With each toast they repeat the same mantra: “I’ll down mine, but you don’t have to finish yours.” Afterward, the host would tilt their glass ever so slightly to show it was empty, a subtle but powerful act of sincerity.

These toasts can last for hours. As the evening progresses and the “free-flow” stage begins, the drinking becomes more relaxed, but there is still a charge in the air. They drink like horses, I remember thinking that first night. I also started to wonder how much I’d consumed.

I can’t recall all the details — I was a little drunk myself. One thing I do remember, though, is that by the end of the night, the host was visibly intoxicated. Yet even this was part of the ritual, a symbolic display of their commitment to the relationships being forged. Before parting, my friend agreed that the two parties would meet again next week to discuss further details of the deal.

It wasn’t just a business dinner — that much was clear. Everything, from the wine to the seating arrangements, was thoughtfully and deliberately designed to facilitate and encourage drinking. But why would public drunkenness matter? And why would it be looked upon favorably?

Searching for trust

After talking to dozens of business people, I came to realize that drinking at banquets in China is less about alcohol and more about what it does — and doesn’t — reveal. Drinking addresses a classic problem in business relationships: information asymmetry. Effective collaboration requires assurances that a potential partner is trustworthy and in it for the long haul, not just an opportunist seeking a quick gain.

To prove their sincerity, potential partners must send a credible signal of their intent — something difficult or costly enough to deter opportunists but manageable for genuinely interested collaborators. Consider how gang members prove their loyalty through extreme acts like self-harm or criminal behavior. These actions are costly because no one would go to the effort unless they were committed to the gang.

Similarly, in business banquets, merely following seating protocols or serving expensive alcohol isn’t enough. It’s too easy to fake. Heavy drinking, however, sends a credible signal. As the 16th-century philosopher Erasmus famously said, “In vino veritas” — “In wine, there is truth.” Alcohol lowers inhibitions, making it harder to conceal one’s true intentions. A host who drinks freely to the point of drunkenness signals that they have nothing to hide. The physical signs of drunkenness — flushed faces, slurred speech, even vomiting — are also difficult to fake. Together, these signals act as proof that the host is willing to endure discomfort and even risk revealing too much to demonstrate their sincerity.

Our research suggests this mindset is widespread. We conducted surveys during chamber of commerce gatherings in Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces in the summer of 2021. In total, 272 participants — a mix of entrepreneurs and salespeople — were asked to choose their ideal collaborators based on different banquet scenarios. The scenarios varied in two key aspects: “a glass with everyone” versus “just two glasses,” and “no change in facial expression” versus “a red face and vomiting.”

The results were clear: potential partners who drank heavily and displayed physical signs of drunkenness were consistently rated as the most trustworthy.

In other words, drinking at Chinese banquets isn’t just about cutting loose; it’s a ritual, a performance, and ultimately, a test of trustworthiness. Where legal frameworks alone can’t address the trust problem and personal relationships are vital for business cooperation, drinking serves as an informal yet effective institution for solving information asymmetry. By turning alcohol into a truth serum of sorts, business banquets help build trust and strengthen networks.

So, the next time you hear about someone getting drunk at a Chinese business banquet, don’t scoff. Behind the flushed faces and empty bottles lies a powerful message: “You can trust me.”

Dr. Lin Wanlin, associate professor at Zhongshan University and Dr. Zhu Jiangnan, associate professor at University of Hong Kong made an equal contribution to this article.

Editor: Cai Yineng; portrait artist: Wang Zhenhao.

(Header image: 500px/VCG)