Chinese Cop Labeled 'Martyr' After Drinking To Death

BEIJING — A Chinese policeman who died after drinking too much at a banquet he was made to attend has been deemed a martyr who died in the line of duty, in an apparent attempt to meet his family's demands for compensation, a state-run newspaper said.

Heavy drinking at business and government functions is almost mandatory in many parts of China, where "Gan bei," or "Bottoms up," is the official toast. Many of the banquets are covered by government funds.

The China Daily reported Tuesday that Chen Lusheng, a traffic officer in the city of Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong, was off-duty when he was made to take part in a banquet with local officials. After rounds of toasts, Chen vomited, passed out on a couch and suffocated, the newspaper said.

It said that after being pressured by his family, police designated Chen a martyr – someone who died in the line of duty – so that his relatives are eligible for up to 650,000 yuan ($95,000) in compensation. The newspaper said the family is demanding at least 4.8 million yuan ($700,000), and has set up a mourning hall at the police station to pressure the department.

A spokeswoman for the Shenzhen police, who gave only her surname, Wang, had no immediate comment.

Chen's death is not the first reported in China this year from excessive drinking at an official function.

In November, a Communist Party official in eastern Anhui province died from alcohol poisoning after drinking heavily while entertaining business associates during an official banquet, the China Daily reported at the time.

Two government officials in southern China died in separate incidents earlier this year after they fell into comas following official banquets that involved excessive drinking.

The cases highlight the heavy ritualized role drinking plays government circles in China, where downing the potent rice liquor, bai jiu, is expected of everyone, especially lower-ranked officials, according to Xia Yeliang, an economics professor at Beijing University.

"Even those with liver problems or are driving are forced to drink, because their bosses will accuse them of being disrespectful if they refuse," Xia said. "It's even harder to refuse, because the alcohol is free. The government needs to set clear regulations, especially for law enforcement officials, that state no public funds should be used on any alcohol at banquets."

Chinese academics have estimated that government officials spend about 500 billion yuan ($73 billion) in public funds each year on official banquets, nearly one-third of the nation's expenses on dining out.

Comments

[jack11206]

12:58 PM on 01/08/2010

i was working for a real estate development company in a city near shenzhen and those characters loved to say cheers and then chug whatever was in their glass as fast as possible, whether it be beer, wine, whiskey or whatever else they are feeling like pounding. most of them were very small and would get absolutely rinsed in no time, i'm surprised there aren't more stories like this but it was always pretty good entertainment to watch them fall all over themselves singing karaoke.

[PlayTOE]

08:29 AM on 12/16/2009

China has had alcohol for over 9,000 years. One might think they would have learned to handle it by now, but obviously not ...

Binge drinking *(especially to the death) cannot and should not be acceptable as a part of any job situation. The Chinese policeman who died after drinking too much at a banquet he was made to attend is NOT a martyr who died in the line of duty, he is a fool who died of stupidity.

The focus should not be gaining compensation for the family, but on changing the 'rules' of social acceptability. Calls to "empty the glass" are OK once, but not OK twice. The Police force is lucky that everyone attending this banquet did not similarly suffer from alcohol poisoning.

[Taylor Schaberg]

04:17 AM on 12/16/2009

Someones gotta drink that Baijiu, "Ganbei!"

[ghudson68]

04:58 PM on 12/15/2009

I'm sorry I'm just not buying it!

[Mortifyd]

03:58 PM on 12/16/2009

What? That a man died?

[LMPE]

02:58 PM on 12/15/2009

It seems to me that the southeast US, run by fundamentalist Christians, tells people never to drink. But then the men love to drink beer while watching football, and so there's terrible alcoholism in the south.

[poster1122]

03:25 PM on 12/15/2009

The 2003 data does not seem to support this:

"Binge alcohol use" is defined as drinking five or more alcoholic drinks at one sitting on at least one day in the 30 days prior to the survey. Whereas North Dakota had the highest rate, Utah had the lowest rate (15.9%).

As revealed by the SAMHSA survey, the following states also had high rate of binge drinking: Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

http://www.alcoholism-information.com/What_State_has_the_Highest_Rate_of_Alcoholism.html

Also, here's an interactive map that gives the most recent numbers that I could find (2008):

http://www.jointogether.org/resources/2008/drinking-by-the-numbers-an.html
http://www.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/WIS0110/399990694/1979

It looks like the heaviest area of concentration for things like binge drinking, gallons of alcohol sold per capita is actually the midwest, followed by the West and Northeast.

[invirginia]

08:24 AM on 12/16/2009

Facts so often derail b.s. Thanks.

[Muggersmom]

02:21 PM on 12/15/2009

Wonder hoe much lead and other poisonsare in their booze?

[Kap Hop]

04:03 AM on 12/16/2009

...idiot.

[invirginia]

08:25 AM on 12/16/2009

Alcohol is a poison itself, ding-dong.

[arjuna108]

01:19 PM on 12/15/2009

Actually, I think you could say that gan bei is the equivalent of bottoms up but "gan bei" means "dry cup", which is what you are expected to produce at the end of the toast.

Luckily, at my Chinese wedding, my wife's family was able to accept that I rarely drink alcohol and let me take tiny sips of beer or gulp juice instead of doing the "required" drinking. Unfortunately, I did have to present and light cigarettes for all the honored guests/family members, which drove me crazy. I spend a good part of every day talking people into quitting. If they get a hold of that video, I'm in trouble. :-)

[davidwayneosedach]

12:52 PM on 12/15/2009

Ihave also read that the Chinese government encourages cigarette smoking.

[PWM]

09:18 AM on 12/15/2009

Odd to believe China was once a great civilization.

[poster1122]

11:25 AM on 12/15/2009

Why?

Alcohol has lubricated virtually every great civilization. Ancient societies in general used it liberally because it was a lot more sterile than normal drinking water. The Chinese, Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks all used alcohol quite liberally. In fact, the Roman army was the group that exported grape vines across Europe because they didn't want to be without wine while abroad. The Greek cult of Dionysus was well-known for its full-on celebration of drunkenness and the belief that it brought them closer to their god (well he was the god of wine, after all). In general, though, societies tended to value alcohol but disdain those who couldn't handle it, which is an attitude that lives on in most societies today.

[StJames]

01:51 PM on 12/15/2009

You are fanned by a fellow lover of history. ;-)

[Dnlmsstch]

01:59 PM on 12/15/2009

True but there is a difference between fermented and distilled. Distilation only get invented in the middle ages and liquor (distilled drinks) is what causes most of these problem - while alcohol poisoning is possible with beer wine and mead (what the ancients drank) it is alot harder.

[purplejesus]

01:50 PM on 12/15/2009

So was Latin America, Rome, Egypt, and the U.S.