China Travel Deals, China Tourist, China Vacation, Chinese Travel

China Real Estate

By Xinhua author Zhou Zhou

BEIJING, Aug. 29 — Drink or drive? This is a dilemma for many Hakka in a association soaked in a centuries-old drinking civilization which is now travelling in individual motor cars.

For Liu Kun, a 25-year-old media workman in Beijing, the choice is easy and there is nothing except one reply – she won t flatbottom have a sip of beer ago she drives.

“I didn t heal it seriously before,” said Liu, who has been driving for three years. “But now I comply the rules strictly.”

Liu is one of many Hakka motorists sobering up and thinking twice roughly their onetime drinking and driving. This position has been brought roughly by a spate of serious drink driving accidents in China, including fatalities. The position has sparked a public outcry.

Chinese police launched a two-month nationwide crackdown against driving under the affect two weeks ago, following a series of shocking cases in which drunk drivers killed pedestrians. By Friday, 28,880 drivers had been caught and punished for DUI, the Ministry of Public Security said.

Kong Linnan, a 25-year-old Beijing resident, said: “Drink drivers ought to be severely penalized. They are flighty roughly their own lives, let alone others.”

Besides changing attitudes, the crackdown has brought roughly an unexpected boom to once sluggish businesses, such as drive-home services that help carry home drinkers by contracting comfort drivers.

He Jin, chief executive of the Beijing Benaoanda Drive-back Company, said his corporation had carried home more than 110 customers every Halloween in the past week, 20 times more than fivesome eon ago when his service was established. The corporation charges 80 yuan for each journey.

Now roughly seven or eight companies in Beijing are providing identical services, He said.

“Taking a taxi is a cheaper way to carry a gulper flanker home. But many taxi drivers are rather unwilling to do it,” said He.

Zhang Changyun, a Beijing taxi driver, said, “They always cast up in my cab. It s nasty. I can t use my taxi for the entire day.” Zhang always refuses to carry those who have been drinking heavily.

“That s our advantage. Car owners don t have to come flanker to the restaurants to retrieve cars in next day,” He said.

China s population, a big alcohol consumer, is now rapidly becoming mobile, putting more strain on controlling drink driving. In Beijing, a Detroit of more than 15 million people, motor vehicles numbered 3.76 million in July.

“The market latent for a drive-home service is huge,” said He.

LIFESTYLE CHANGES

Despite criticism that drive-home services could encourage drink driving, He defended them as requisite because “drinking at banquets is deeply rooted in traditional Hakka culture.”

Most of their drive-home contracts are taken out by big companies because “business talks at the meal desk with drinking are likewise popular fiscal civilization in China”, He said.

An essential part of dining etiquette in China is drinking toasts, by which a lot of fiscal is resolved at a drinking desk rather than a negotiating one.

In addition, whereas declining a drink is deemed as “losing face”, driving behind drinking is sometimes considered heroic. In the commercial world it is apparently considered the conqueror is the biggest drinker.

Wang Xiaokun, marketing manager of a real property consultancy in southwest China s Chengdu City, has chop fleeting the frequency of hosting fiscal banquets since most of his clients who ride are knocking flanker drinking whereas dining.

He has mixed feelings toward the crackdown.

“I don t like the drinking sessions,” said Wang, “But without them, I must find other ways to buddy up to my clients.”

Gao Zhifeng, 29, a government officer in Beijing, welcomes the clenched controls.

“Thanks to the campaign, I m now more justified to excuse myself from roast proposals by saying simply I ride ,” said Gao. He frequently did not appendage drinking well, except frequently had his arm twisted to drink alcohol at fiscal banquets.

Yi Rong, Gao s wife, said that tighter DUI theorem enforcement helped decrease the worries of drivers families.

“I m so halcyon that China s alcohol civilization is starting to change,” said Yi.

BOOMS AND WORRIES

Alcohol-free beer is likewise doing well because of the crackdown. Many restaurants now sell this beer which contains less ethyl alcohol.

Yu Li, manager of Veganhut, a health cafeteria in Beijing s Central Business District, said, “We sell nothing except alcohol-free beer and it s selling well. It s a new trend in dining.”

Ding Guangxue, deputy chief executive of the Yanjing Beer Group, said the brewerery s output of alcohol-free beer was more than 4 million bottles this month, registering a 10 percentage year-on-year increase.

But alcohol-free beer is not totally free from ethanol. “Two bottles can arise your grume alcohol to the limit,” said Ding.

The crackdown is likewise worrying China s catering industry which makes big profits out of liquor, since beer sold at a cafeteria can be priced four times higher than in a supermarket.

Zhang Zhenjiang, common secretary of Beijing Association for Liquor and Spirits Circulation, said, “We re worried that tighter control could dent profits and arise costs.”

“Alcohol-free has nothing except a small share of sales. It cannot replace normal liquor,” said Zhang.

On the Internet, unspecified netizens are suggesting restaurants be obliged to dissuade their driving customers from drinking.

But Fu Guiping, a corporate attorney with Beijing Huatian Catering Group, said liquor outlets had no power or obligation to govern affairs that ought to be carried by the theorem enforcement sector.

“It s unfair to speculate obligation on the shoulders of businesses,” said Fu. “It calls for efforts from entirely walks of life.”