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City’s underage drinking culture seems out of hand
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ON any given night in Shanghai there are restaurants, bars and clubs buzzing with conversation, drinking and dancing. Few people look twice at those entering these establishments, much less monitor patrons’ alcohol consumption.
However, this may prove to be a dangerous mistake on the part of the staff, as Shanghai is raging with underage teens ready to party.
Throughout the week, ladies’ nights at numerous bars offer free-flow drinks to women without restriction, affording minors the chance to get out on the town.
Indian expatriate teen Aditi says, “It’s so easy to go out (in Shanghai). I think people misuse that. It’s a sort of ‘go out and enjoy it while you can.’ For such a developed city, buying alcohol is inexpensive. Anyone can walk into a grocery store and buy alcohol, no questions asked.”
The lawful drinking age in China is 18, as of 2006 when a ban was put in place to prevent minors from purchasing alcohol. Regardless, this ban remains unregulated, making it easy for young people in China to buy alcoholic beverages.
It is often difficult to guess a person’s age simply by looking at them, especially when young girls wear tall heels and paint their faces with makeup. With no identification checks in place, determining who is underage is problematic.
Furthermore, Chinese locals rarely question foreigners’ actions, so teens act as they please without discipline.
One Australian mother believes “some parents may have a false sense of security. They think that because they’re expats people won’t touch them.” She adds that another parental worry is that “13-year-olds are drinking when they are not experienced and there are much older people there.”
On the flip side, Aditi also mentions that “it’s nice that [expat teens] get to have this exposure to nightlife. When we go to college we’ll be less likely to go crazy over alcohol because we’ve already been exposed to it.”
Shanghai is a city that never sleeps, with people up and about at all hours of the day and night.
A mother of international school students believes that “even if [teens] are out until 2am, safety-wise they will be fine, but because they have that freedom, they end up drinking more.”
Aside from the issue posed by underage teens enjoying the Shanghai nightlife, some tourists and expatriates behave disrespectfully when they are out on the town.
Great nightlife
When British student Chris was asked why he decided to come to Shanghai for a school-related summer tour, he replied, “I hear Shanghai has a great nightlife!”
Irrespective of the truthfulness of this statement, Shanghai is seen in the eyes of many as a party city.
Worryingly, Chris and his UK friends were uninterested in Shanghai’s rich culture, and instead spent their nights in the city barhopping.
While these students were in Shanghai, they behaved in a manner that would never be acceptable back home. Though all tourists certainly do not think and act this way, the behavior of a minority of foreigners creates a negative impression for all non-Chinese visitors.
A threatening combination for expatriates and tourists alike is that of money and access, specifically to alcohol. Many expatriate teens have the mindset that because they have money, they are better than locals, and this leads them to run wild.
According to a father of two working in Shanghai, the drinking culture in the city among underage expatriates is “unacceptable, irresponsible, but completely believable.”
In any case, just because children are able to go out drinking does not by any means suggest that they should.
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