It's well known that Asian people are more likely to have a genetic mutation that makes it more difficult to break down the alcohol, and hence are can suffer from alcohol intolerance. Mind you the defective gene can appear in all races, it's just that it seems more prevalent in Asian people. I found this in Japan when I visited. As you may know Japanese written English can be very good, but their spoken English is a lot less good. I'm told they do not get a lot of practice in speaking English in school, etc. Hence, in the evening, over various dinners, the 'Asian flush', as it is rather unsympathetically called, became quite evident! Bearing in mind that hearing is the first sense affected by alcohol, later in the evening I did a lot of agreeing, and nodding!