“干杯”会有好运?这是传统吗?
I just came back from a very interesting trip to the North and North West of China. I visited Taiyuan, Xi’an, Baoji, Qianyang and Longxian.
我刚从中国西北出差回来,这一次旅程我参观了太原,西安,宝鸡,千阳和陇县。
In each and every city we were exposed to the traditional drinking “Gambei” but on a different level like we have never done it before.
在每一个城市我们都领略到了饮酒的“干杯”传统,但是和我们之前经历过的又不一样。
Me and other colleagues from Mexico or USA have done this before with people from our company or other friends from China. This time we did it with Distributors, Government people and it was a very interesting experience especially for the guy from Mexico that did it for the first time.
我以及美国、墨西哥同事到中国也和公司同事、其他中国朋友经历过这些场面。这次,我们和经销商,政府领导在一起,非常有意思的经历,特别是对于第一次体验这种文化的墨西哥同事来说。
When we started having lunch in one of the occasions it did not take long before we did the first “Gambei” and I guess the traditional opening introductory first one: Thank you for being here today, we are very pleased that you came to visit us……………and so on! That was the first one. Five minutes later one by one all the guests on the table start going to your place to do “gambei” with you. Some say something, some just drink.
其中一次午宴,开宴不久进行了第一轮“干杯”,我想传统式的第一杯开场是这样的:谢谢你们的光临,对于你们的到访我们非常高兴。。。。等等!这就是第一杯。5分钟以后,桌上的客人开始一个个来到你的座位旁和你干杯。有些人说点什么,有些人直接一饮而尽。
Then an hour later it is when it starts getting more interesting, it becomes like a contest to see who the strongest or best drinker is. It seems like the more you drink the more masculine, strong, powerful you are. And even I have heard that it also gives you better luck with selling more of whatever you do.
一个小时之后开始变得更有意思了,情形变得更像一场较量,看谁更强或者更能喝。看起来你喝得越多就越有男子气概,越强壮有力。并且我还听说,喝得越多,好运也会随之而来,生意销量更好之类的。
We’ll let me tell you that we are not great drinkers but we are not bad either, and we are BIG! So our body mass certainly helps absorbing more alcohol than a single Chinese person. So it really takes a very skilled drinker to be able to drink the same than we do.
让我告诉你吧,我们并不是有多擅长喝酒,但是我们也不弱,并且我们块头很大!我们的大块头绝对能够帮助我们比一个中国人能吸收更多酒精。所以真的需要一个非常专业的饮者才能达到我们的酒量。
Actually the person from Mexico that was with me Mr. Robles now better known in Baoji as Mr. Lobus had multiple times 6 straight Gambeis in a raw with different people and make a name for himself in this City.
And he is quite big 100 kg strong Mexican man!
实际上,这次和我一起的来自墨西哥的罗伯斯先生,在宝鸡已经因“萝卜丝”先生这一称号而广为人知。他和几个人分别连喝了6杯,在这座城市留下了他的大名。他可是一个重达100公斤的墨西哥大汉。
I think they will not forget anytime soon his name. He became an instant sensation because of his ability for drinking.
我相信他们不会在短期内忘记这个名字。因为“萝卜丝”先生已因他的酒量而名声大噪。
It also became to him quite clear of the importance culturally speaking that drinking “Baijiu” to the Chinese people mean. I just personally do not know how different it would be if I go to any event and I do not even have a single “Gambei” with anyone. I also do not think it is the same if the other person is drinking Chinese White wine and you drink water, tea or soda. I don’t think is right, or polite.
同样,也让他清楚了解了白酒文化对中国人的重要性。我不知道如果我去到那种场合不和任何人干杯会有什么变化。我也不知道如果别人都在喝白酒,但你却在一旁喝水,茶或者苏打水的话是否又一样。我不认为这是对的,或者是礼貌的。
I don’t think many foreigners get the opportunity to experience this like Mr. “Lobus” did on this trip. I am absolutely certain that he will never forget this experience and that he will tell multiple times all his friends and family about everything he saw and lived on this tour of the China that is unkown to most foreigners that just come to Hong Kong or Shanghai or Beijing and see only the tourist places.
我认为不是很多外国人能够像“萝卜丝”先生一样,有机会经历这些事。相信他将不会忘记这次经历,他绝对会一次又一次地和朋友家人聊起此次中国之行的所有事情,对于那些只去过香港,上海,北京参观旅游景点的外国人来说,这些是他们不曾经历的。
It was also very interesting to see how after a few “Gambeis” and breaking the ice there were no longer any language barriers, we became all closer friends and we had quite and enjoyable lunch or dinner.
同样,看到几次干杯就能够破冰也是很有意思的,不再有语言的障碍,我们都成为了很亲密的朋友,并且很好地享受午餐或晚餐。
And if it is true that you do really get more lucky selling more if you drink more than we are for sure going to have a very good second semester sales at our company.
如果喝得越多,销量越好的说法是真的话,我肯定我们公司下半年的销量将会非常棒。
There is no doubt in my mind after this trip that Chinese and Mexican people are so much alike. We are friendly and like socializing in similar ways. I am so glad we made this trip. And I want to thank through this column to our new friends and distributors from Xi’an and Baoji for the great hospitality and experience that we had in this cities. It was so GOOD that I said that I had to write on this column about this.
在此次行程之后,我对“中国人和墨西人事如此相似”这一说法再无疑问。我们都非常友好,并且在一些社交方式上也很相似。对此次行程我非常高兴,我要通过此专栏感谢西安和宝鸡的经销商和新朋友们,感谢他们的好客以及让我们在这些城市拥有美好记忆。它是如此的棒,我说过一定会写进本期专栏。
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