IP and Law

Is there a drinking age in China?

JDM050703beer.jpg
"Minors may not drink in this restaurant" - will this become a common sight?
A new standard for alcohol sales issued by the Ministry of Commerce prohibits stores and restaurants from selling alcohol to minors, starting 1 July. So does this establish a drinking age?

Well, the Ministry says that the standard is not an iron rule, but rather a guideline. And besides, there is already a law on the books: the "Prevention of Juvenile Crime" law from 1999 states that "no business may sell alcohol or tobacco to minors."

A reporter for the Chongqing Evening News did a quick survey of supermarkets, local convenience stores, and bars, and found they were still selling to children and youth.

"My family will be having guests for lunch, so my father sent me to buy four bottles of beer and two bottles of erguotou." Right around lunch, this reporter met Xiaowang, a junior-middle school student who was buying alcohol. When I asked the person selling the alcohol if he knew that the Ministry of Commerce had put in place new regulations on 1 July, he looked at me blankly: "I haven't heard of that standard. There are lots of children who come here to buy alcohol. When I'm doing business I can't check people's residence permits."

In 2002, Guangdong Province wrote a drinking age into the first draft of a new set of alcohol regulations, but it was later deleted after complaints that the rural elderly and infirm would be inconvenienced if their children could no longer buy alcohol for them.

And last year a restaurant in Shenyang put up the sign shown here, refusing to serve alcohol to minors. Of course, it only did so after a group of drunken teenagers beat up a driver, who retaliated by running them down. It remains to be seen what the response will be to the Ministry's guidelines.

Links and Sources
There are currently 2 Comments for Is there a drinking age in China?.

Comments on Is there a drinking age in China?

I believe the drinking age is 18 as of 2006

stop you bitchin'

in america you must be 21 to buy beer and 18 to buy cigs.

and plus no one really enforces this law accept on signs in western shops or places

Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
The latest recommended blogs and new media
laomo2010x80.jpg
From 2008
Books on China
The Eurasian Face : Blacksmith Books, a publishing house in Hong Kong, is behind The Eurasian Face, a collection of photographs by Kirsteen Zimmern. Below is an excerpt from the series:
Big in China: An adapted excerpt from Big In China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising A Family, Playing The Blues and Becoming A Star in China, just published this month. Author Alan Paul tells the story of arriving in Beijing as a trailing spouse, starting a blues band, raising kids and trying to make sense of China.
Pallavi Aiyar's Chinese Whiskers: Pallavi Aiyar's first novel, Chinese Whiskers, a modern fable set in contemporary Beijing, will be published in January 2011. Aiyar currently lives in Brussels where she writes about Europe for the Business Standard. Below she gives permissions for an excerpt.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Korean history doesn't fly on Chinese TV screens (2007.09): SARFT puts the kibbosh on Korean historical dramas.
+ Religion and government in an uneasy mix (2008.03): Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊) article from October, 2007, on government influence on religious practice in Tibet.
+ David Moser on Mao impersonators (2004.10): I first became aware of this phenomenon in 1992 when I turned on a Beijing TV variety show and was jolted by the sight of "Mao Zedong" and "Zhou Enlai" playing a game of ping pong. They both gave short, rousing speeches, and then were reverently interviewed by the emcee, who thanked them profusely for taking time off from their governmental duties to appear on the show.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30