I have been meeting friends and relatives for dinner and drinks since I returned to China after 16 years of being a foreign correspondent. One pleasant surprise is that fewer people now drink alcohol, at least the people I know.

I've had some nightmarish experiences traveling in China in the past. People wanted to show their hospitality by constantly raising their glass and saying ganbei (bottoms up).Some were so serious that they wouldn't let you go until you got drunk.

Even in Shanghai, where heavy drinking is less a problem compared with other parts of the country, I've seen, on several occasions, grooms getting completely drunk at the wedding ceremony because too many friends raised a toast to their "good health".

It's good to see that alcohol has become less important today. In fact, at a friend's wedding in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, three weeks ago, no one at my table drank alcohol despite French wine and Wuliangye, an expensive Chinese liquor brand, being served.

However, on my way back to Shanghai, I saw a huge billboard promoting a Chinese liquor brand at the Shanghai Railway Station. The company from Sichuan province advertised its product as "dream liquor". Similar advertisements can be seen at Beijing South Railway Station, from where I took the high-speed train to Shanghai a month ago.

More annoying are the baijiu (a traditional Chinese spirit) commercials on national and local TV during prime news, with some telecast under the logo "Chinese time-honored brands".I am quite sure that baijiu won't make China strong despite the big profits made by the distilleries. Drinking alcohol will only weaken a nation by harming the health of its citizens.

In its 2023 report, the World Health Organization said that no amount of alcohol consumption is safe for human health. It described alcohol as a toxic, psychoactive and dependence-producing substance, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified it as a "Group 1" carcinogen decades ago. "Group 1" is the highest risk group which also includes asbestos, radiation and tobacco.

The WHO also says there are no studies that prove the potential beneficiary effect of light and moderate drinking on cardiovascular health, with the risks of type 2 diabetes and cancer outweighing any potential cardiovascular benefits.

I heard many saying that moderate drinking is good for health when I toured a dozen or so vineyards in Napa Valley in California 20 years ago. That today has turned out to be not true.

Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School have warned against alcohol consumption, because it increases the risk of cancer, liver disease, high blood pressure, heart failure and dementia, and lapses in judgment, and could even lead to depression, anxiety and many other medical conditions.

China's advertisement law, revised in 2021, forbids inducements or temptations to drink alcohol, or promote immoderate drinking. It also forbids companies from indicating or implying that drinking alcohol could ease nervousness and anxiety, or increase physical strength.

Yet those TV commercials, and billboards at railway stations hardly meet such criteria.

Such baijiu ads will not only encourage heavy and binge drinkers to indulge themselves, but also send a dangerous message to the young generation.

According to the 2025 China Liquor Market Midterm Research Report, issued by the China Alcoholic Drinks Association and KPMG in June, the profits of the 989 Chinese liquor companies above designated size increased by 7.8 percent in 2024 despite a 1.8 percent drop in production and government rules restricting official spending on hard liquor. The report said that the young generation, including many who prefer low-alcohol content drinks, will become a key target in liquor companies' bid to expand their market.

True, baijiu producers have become major contributors to some local governments' coffers and may be contributing to government efforts to boost overall consumption. But the harm alcohol inflicts on people's health, especially the young generation, will be hard to calculate.

The author is a China Daily columnist and senior correspondent.