I stopped drinking hard liquor some time back (I'm getting old, and I've never been good at knowing my own limit), though I still enjoy my beer. As a foreigner, I've always been able to get out of baijiu drinking because they kind of expect foreigners to be a bit off.

It's true that at a work dinner, a Chinese guy either doesn't drink at all, ever, or else drinks baijiu every time someone of higher status toasts (which is a lot), or else risks losing the dreaded face. They don't seem to bother the non-drinker or think less of him, but he also is throwing his chance at promotions out the window (same goes with smoking), as being one of the guys and making connections is the main decider for promotions. As a foreigner it's illegal for me to do any job a Chinese can readily do, and any middle management job in China requires the extensive and demanding skill-set of drinking, stamping and sociopathy, so there are plenty of Chinese who can do that.

I put my foot down and say I only drink beer or wine, and I've only known one upper manager to be truly offended by this. I'm sure other upper managers respect me less but Chinese tend not to respect foreigners anyway so who cares? The whole face-saving thing is really frat-boyish in more ways than one, so the disrespect is fully-mutual.

Just tell them that you have health issues and you are unable to drink and they won't pour it down your throat.  But you have to stick to this, you can sip on a glass of baijiu one time and then try to get away with not having a glass the next time.  It's the same thing as smoking, just say you don't do it and never take any that is offered, or it's a slippery slope.

Not necessary, but makes life alot less easier.

Same with being a vegetarian.

Chinese drinking habits are different from ours.  Wshile we back home go to a bar and have a few with friends or alone, here in China drinking is done while eating at a table with friends, relatives or co-workers.  Also, at social gatherings at home or restaurants while playing games, with the loser must empty the glass totally each time.

When I first arrived to China, I was exposed to these activities and suffered many hangovers until I wised up.  Now days, I do have an empty bottle of local wine (beautiful thing do), which I keep full of water, and I do take to gatherings.  When they toast, I raise my glass and toast too, but I am drinking water from my bottle, which I keep on the floor next to my chair.  Most of our friends know of this, and they do not seem to mind.  The trick to insure you do not get exposed to real alcohol (I do call it "rocket fuel") is to keep the glass full, as soon as you get a sip refill it fast, to avoid getting liquor from another bottle.

One thing here: you do not say in your question if you're a man or woman (I know most expats here are male, but us girls do exist here as well!).

If you're a woman, it's much easier just to say no sometimes, and to opt out of the drinking games if you don't want to join in them.

Miss A is right, being a gal is a huge advantage in the drinking culture here. It's the same with smoking. Personally, I love both of these vices so it doesn't bother me. True, my guts hate me and I think I spewed out my liver a couple of days ago...

The advice others have given about this is probably the right way to go. However, it's not uncommon for drunk Chinese men to pissedly crowd your table in the pub and force hard spirits into your glass. Sometimes drinking the stuff is the best way to get them to leave.

I used to chug draft beer for drinks, no one ever bet me , but i had ways of cheating also. Drinking fast and lots of beer hits you after a few, so if people kept coming, I always let the other pick up his glass and start drinking first because i just threw the beer down my throat, but often if i had enough, i just threw the beer over my shoulder. The other guy never sees me because his head is up drinking. i win, everybody gets a laugh,,,unless yr behind me ,,oops,,, so you can get out of drinking by fooling them.

There is nothing like necessary or primordial unless u make it...i have been in china for 4yrs,i dont drink and the people around me(chinese)around me respect my decision.so dont worry!U just have to make urself clear.

Be yourself. You don't have to drink. I can drink, i know my limits, i stay within that. I don't drink as heavy as i used to do to my age.  Just stick to your guns if you don't want to , then don't. I used to smoke, but quit, i just don't need it to fit in the crowd. Just be yourself.

If it is not a habit, don't start it.

I drank so seldom back at home that it is hard for me to ascertain if alcohol here is real or not...

I don't drink spirits in the bars,  just beers to be on the safer side.   I once bought a can of  "German" beer from a shop and looked it up online.  The closest sign of that beer's origins I could find was Madagascar.  That's quite a difference.

I'm wondering how alcohol here is manufactured?  It always exits out the wrong end, if you get what I mean.

Just tell them you have health issues, they will leave you alone. 

Extremely.  How otherwise are you going to keep yourself from jumping out the window?

I only really have one hard and fast rule.... Don't get between me and the pursuit of a therapeutic gutfull of grog!  

All the other day to day screwing of my ethics, dignity, etc.. can then be accepted with a degree of ambivalence.

You need not become a lush like the other 90% of the foreigners around here have become.

Hold onto your values; alcohol is not that necessary.  Simply turn your glass  upside down and say "no" and mean "no". 

After a while, the message will sink in.

my advice is never to come to China, If you live here you need alcohol to forget about your life 

if you can't drink then you're better off elsewhere