When it comes to alcohol, China is a land of extremes: almost half the male population over 15 (42 percent) and the vast majority of ladies (71 percent) abstain from the stuff entirely. Those who do drink, however, do so with a gusto that puts Brits, Aussies, Americans and Irish to shame. In fact, only the noted tipplers of Russia and Tajikistan put away more than the Chinese.
What's more, the amount Chinese drinkers throw back is rapidly increasingly. The PRC's per capita booze consumption on the eve of Deng Xiaoping's ascension was just 2.5 liters of pure alcohol a year. By the time the Shanghai World Expo rolled around in 2010, that number had doubled. According to the latest World Health Organization figures, we're now at 15.1 liters.
In terms of overall alcohol consumption per capita across the entire population, China is a piddling 89th place on the worldwide league table, miles behind Asian leader South Korea, which sits at 17th altogether while commanding first place in terms of hard liquor consumption.
However, the WHO calculations are symptomatic of very different drinking cultures worldwide. While the lager louts and wine connoisseurs of Australia and French bring their nations into the top twenty overall, they mainly do so by enjoying so many bottled of red over supper and enjoying nights out with friends.
Drinking in China, on the other hand, is not necessarily about fun or enjoyment. Every day, innumerable business deals nationwide are lubricated with baijiu, at Moutai-fueled banquets where the goal is more closely associated with achieving leverage over your potential partners by getting them thoroughly lashed while maintaining face for yourself then it is with kicking back over a well-prepared meal.
The drinking capacity of China's tipplers might come as a surprise to many, but so too, surely, must Tajikistan's. No responsible media organization could possibly endorse drinking 40 percent more than Russians; but, to be fair, it's still pretty impressive.
WATCH: Hubei woman downs 2 bottles of baijiu and blacks out in Yangtze, wakes up in Jiangxi
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