Starting to Drink

Wei Hao, a Chinese psychiatrist who undertook a World Health Organisation-sponsored study of the problem, said

"In the past -- 20 years ago -- people were generally very poor, so they didn't have enough money to buy even food and clothing. Now people have become richer and richer, they have extra money to buy (alcoholic) beverages," he said.

China, with 22 percent of the world's population, is one of the oldest brewing countries in the world, but in the past two decades has seen a 10 percent rise in drinking-rates, Wei said.

A surge in alcoholic beverage production of 10 percent a year had accompanied a steady increase in illnesses such as cirrhosis of the liver and ulcers, and psychiatric disorders such as alcohol dependency and dementia, he said.

Wei's WHO-sponsored study of some 27,000 people in China showed that 6.7 percent of Chinese men over the age of 15 suffered alcohol dependency, while only 0.2 percent of women were affected.

Although an overall rate of 3.7 percent of the general population was still much lower than Japan or South Korea, Wei predicted "today's Japan is tomorrow's China".

Chinese consumption equated to five litres per capita a year of pure alcohol, while Japanese drank 10 litres and South Koreans 15, he said...

China's traditional emphasis on moderate drinking accompanied by food was undergoing some big changes, with young people learning from Western culture to drink alcohol on its own without food, he said.

Economic development was also leading to cultural changes. "In business, alcohol can be used to improve the relationship -- so it forces you to drink a lot," he said.

Drink driving had become the third top cause of traffic accidents in China, a country that has seen a great increase in the number cars and new drivers, Wei said.