Life and Leisure

Drying up the new scene

By Lu Chang and Kelly Dawson China Daily
Updated: 2010-07-05 00:00

BEIJING — Wang Yi, a 40-year-old alcoholic who has been sober for almost five years following a 20-year drinking binge, credits Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Beijing for saving his life.

“Alcohol is like a little monster who stalks me all the time. I thought I was going to die drinking,” Wang said. “AA saved me from nightmares and further destruction.”

Wang said he hit rock bottom during his drinking days.

“I don’t know what paradise is because I’ve never been there,” said Wang.

“But I know exactly what hell is, because I just came back from there.” 

Alcohol usage in China has increased dramatically over recent decades and can be attributed to an increase in disposable income, the easy access to alcohol and the growing influence of Western attitudes toward drinking socially, according to experts and people with Alcoholics Anonymous.

“There’s no doubt that there are hundreds of thousands of people who need recovery in Beijing,” said John, an AA organizer who asked to remain anonymous.

“I don’t think there’s any less prevalence in Chinese people than anywhere else in the world in terms of susceptibility to alcoholism.”

Not much official research has been done on a national level, but in 2004 the World Health Organization reported that 3.8 percent of China’s adult population suffered from alcoholism, numbering over 40 million.

WHO also reported a 320 percent jump in alcohol usage between 1978 and 2000.

According to a 2001 survey by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, heavy drinking was reported by 5.7 percent of the American population, or about 12.9 million people.  

“Typically when you ask about alcoholism in China, people will say there’s very little of it. It’s not a priority issue here,” said Ian Newman, a researcher at the University of Nebraska who studies alcohol patterns in China and teaches alcohol education workshops at Beijing Medical University.

“It’s a question of definition.”

Chinese drinkers have traditionally not shared the Western interpretation of alcoholism as a disease, said Sheng Lixia, director of the Chinese Drug Dependence Treatment Center in Beijing.

As a result, drinkers end up in pretty bad shape by the time they come in for help, Sheng said.

Depending on where they end up, they’re occasionally admitted to psychiatric wards and forced to endure harsher forms of treatment.

But as cultural changes occur, social drinking has increased in China over the last decade, John said.

“There’s been a massive shift. People are drinking more openly. There didn’t used to be the money or the supply chain in place, and all that has changed. Younger people have money and can go after a different lifestyle.”

Newman attributes the changes to influences from Western cultures.

“Traditionally in China, alcohol has accompanied food, rather than drinking as an event on its own.

Additionally, in contrast to Western cultures where if you drink a lot you can gain a positive reputation, in China “face” has always brought a negative social effect that has encouraged people to behave when they drink.

But Western marketing and access has changed things,” he said.

Following a series of high-profile drunken driving deaths last year, the Beijing traffic administration announced a “zero tolerance” campaign, and earlier this month reiterated its intention to penalize those found guilty of driving under the influence to the fullest extent of the law.

Violators face a 15-day detention, a fine of 2,000 yuan ($292) and a six-month license suspension.

“Drinking and driving is a big issue now,” Newman said. “It’s key that the drinking and driving law was passed.”

Wang, who began drinking at the age of 14 and opened a restaurant at 21, said his wife and children left him because of his alcoholism. 

“My wife and I are totally strangers now,” he said. “I feel very guilty for what I put her through.”

He eventually discovered AA at Peking University Sixth Hospital after falling into a river while drunk, he said.  “At the beginning I doubted the treatments,” he said.

“But when I heard some members’ stories, I was very surprised to find there are people who had the same experience as I did.”

Since its Chinese chapters first opened in 2000, AA in China has expanded beyond its initial expatriates base to include bilingual and Chinese-speaking meetings.

Organizers report a Beijing membership of about 80, with chapters in five other cities, including Shanghai. According to organizers, members total 1,000 across China.

In recent months various members have begun conducting online chat meetings to reach people in cities that haven’t established chapters yet.

 AA, established in the US in 1935, is based on a twelve-step program that begins with an admission that one has become powerless over alcohol. Steps toward recovery include self-inventory and making amends to family and friends who have been harmed by the individual’s addiction.

 AA does not maintain official membership statistics, but the organization estimates a worldwide membership of about two million members. About 50 percent of members, according to the organization, have been sober for more than five years.

While AA does not typically affiliate with hospitals or medical professionals, the organization first established its Chinese chapters in Beijing hospitals. Government representatives were present during the initial meetings, John said. 

“There was an official awareness of it from Day 1,” he said.

Treatment for alcoholism is occasionally modified on an individual basis to accommodate cultural differences, with various factors coming into play. 

For example, AA literature includes numerous references to “God,” a term organizers say can mean different things to different people.

“It was a very healthy thing that AA in China was first established in the hospitals,” John said.

“Otherwise authorities might not have known how to look at the use of religion.”

Wang said he thought AA was a religious group at first.

 But individuals define “God” as they choose, John said. Some people in China think about in terms of Taoism or Buddhism. “I even heard one guy ask, ‘Is it OK if I use it to mean the Communist party?’ I said sure. It’s a personal thing.”

Chinese members are often reluctant to share their stories publicly in the beginning, Sheng said. 

“Chinese alcoholics consider having mental problems as a very big issue,” Sheng said. “They feel embarrassed to talk about it.”

But many members have taken comfort in viewing the public confessionary nature of AA meetings as a form of self-criticism, John said.

“What you say in an AA meeting is entirely your choice. Most people, once they’re in for a little bit, they become comfortable and open up.”

Ultimately, AA is the same everywhere, John said.

“The program doesn’t change. You can find anchor points within different cultures depending on where you are.”

Regardless, the growing number of members in China attests to the value of meeting with people who have gone through struggles that are the same within any culture. 

“AA is a good place for them to take the load off,” Sheng said.

“No one here will judge, and they can help each other to overcome the hard times.”