Shenzhen Clubs Adjust to Fire Safety

Last night I spent a night out in Shenzhen. As I posted before, ever since the deadly fire and stampede a week ago in Longgang district, a lot of changes have been made to Shenzhen nightlife.

Here are some of the stuff I noticed:

• Chocolate, Ubar, Yellow, InClub and Rox were all closed. No lights were on and no people were around.
• Popular hang outs like Soho, Face and Richy were somehow open.
  
• Since all of the other clubs were already full, Soho had a huge line outside trying to get in.
• At Face, there was much less people than there are usually.
  

I spent the majority of my time at Richy, the typical high-scale hongkong and shenzhen elite hangout. While there were no lines, it was much more difficult to get in than usual. A lot of people were being turned away at the door due to the limits on the amount of people inside. More foreigners than usual were being turned away as well.

After going inside Richy club, it only looked like it was 70% capacity as it used to look before the incident. The dance floor was gone while at least 8 tables next to high traffic areas were taken away. This left huge spaces for people to walk around. Some of the VIP sofas were also removed in favor of wider paths for club-goers. All of these measures definitely walking around earlier but a lot of the ambiance was destroyed. Now instead of a packed, really intimate feel, it felt like it was 9pm and people were just kind of hanging out.

Things were definitely different than before.

Shenzhen Gov't Takes Action After Deadly Fire & Stampede at Club

Almost a week ago now a fire at a nightclub in Longgang district in Shenzhen left at least 43 people dead and another 45 people injured. During a show, fireworks ignited the ceiling tiles overhead causing a fire. While the fire was relatively small, it ignited panic that caused a stampede out of the club. News outlets from China and all over the world covered the event.

I personally have never been to the Longgang area. It is as far and different from my Luohu and Nanshan clubs as the Bronx would be for Meatpacking district Manhattan. (So thank you to all of my friends who messaged me asking if I was ok).

Fire safety awareness in China is very lax. Whether lack of awareness is from ignorance or intentional I dont know. It is, however a big reason why a lot of fatal fires have occurred in China's public places (To be fair, fires in NYC clubs have been frequent as well). While there are proper stairwells and emergency exits, most are not maintained well. Poor lighting and using it as storage are the major problems. While there are solid and concrete laws on the books, the implementation and enforcement of these laws are lax until an event like this takes place (again, just as i've seen in NYC). Also, Chinese clubs really try to pack people into a small amount of space. Even for really big bars and clubs, there are soo many tables and chairs that walking around is incredibly difficult, not to mention any kind of reaction to a fire.

Since the fire, local government have taken action. My friends have mentioned that popular bars like Ubar, Yellow, Face, and others all over Shenzhen have shut down temporarily due inspections for safety. While some opened back up immediately, others that don’t conform to standards are still closed.

Bars and clubs are not the only issue either. These fire safety problems are present in office buildings, hospitals and other facilities as well. My hope is that the Shenzhen gov't will actively address all of these issues in light of the recent event.

Sex and China

A couple of weeks ago, I was with a bunch of friends and cousins at KTV place in Shenzhen, singing kareoke. Although I dont do that much singing (i'm a drinker at these things), I did notice something very interesting.

In between when songs are played, there are different ads and commericals displayed on the monitors throughout. These are usually promotional material for various drinks or cars. However, one really stood out to me.

It was a 10 second ad that featured, what I thought, was a cartoon figure shaped like a condom with disclaimers. At first, I didn't really understand it, but after conferring with my Chinese cousins, I figured out what was going on.

It was an ad for condom use and awareness for HIV/Aids. The ad basically wanted everyone to use condoms, and stated that the KTV places would distrbute them for free to any of its patrons.
Wow, I thought... some KTV.



So, it looks like it's working.

When issues of human rights, politics and censorship comes up to westerners, many use the argument that more trade with China will not only open up the country and its 1.3 billion people as consumers, but also help change the society and culture with it as well.

Well, i guess its partly working... in the form of a mini sexual revolution.

By no means am I refering to a trend that more people are having unprotected sex with a side of drug use (like in the American 1960s). What I am seeing is the quick and rapid development of a more open understanding and acceptance to sex and human sexuality.

A recent International Herald Tribune article entitled "A People's Sexual Revolution in China", describes the current explosion of sexuality in media.

Even five years ago, mainland books and magazines were banned from showing pictures of scantily clad models or publishing content that was deemed offensive or morally corrupt. The only sexual content to be found was in sex education pamphlets or books of nude Chinese women sold as "art works" at big city airports.

Today, however, with the Chinese economy booming and the government loosening its hold on the personal lives of everyday citizens, magazines are beginning to publish soft-core pornographic photographs, sexual fantasies and even clues about where to pick up call girls.

This change in sexuality has also been seen in the governmental policy towards HIV/Aids and condoms.

A few years ago, there were very few places where condoms could be bought. The Chinese government also denied the existence of HIV/Aids in China as well (kinda like the Reagan years in the US) Fast forward a couple of years and condoms can be bought everywhere. In every supermarket and convenience store, condoms are displayed and sold at the cashier next to the Peanut M&Ms. Recent reports by Reuters confirm that various government ministries have

has ordered all hotels, holiday resorts and public showers to provide condoms, part
of nationwide efforts to fight the spread of AIDS.

What I originally thought of as a progressive KTV place being responsible for its patrons has actually turned out to be a nation-wide campaign that not only helps prevent STD/STIs, but also, in a sense, further liberalizes and modernizes Chinese conceptions/stigmas regarding sex and sexuality.

Good job, China. Keep up the good work.

Shenzhen Bar Exclusivity

Last Saturday night Jason and I went out to Richy bar. It is in the Lou Hu district beside the Lushan Hotel, next to Face (another well known bar. 深圳市庐山酒店Face Cafe侧). We had heard some good things about it from our friends, so we wanted to check it out.

Typically, Chinese night life starts around 9pm, while in NYC, it would start around 11pm or midnight. Instead of taking a break between dinner and going out, Chinese people merge the two into one activity. By midnight a lot of people are drunk and ready to go home. Also, a lot of clubs and bars completely close at 2am.

This early go-out time usually means that all of the cool bars and clubs are completely full by the time my friends and I get out…unless we go to Ubar, the typical western bar in Luohu.

Jason and I arrived at Richy bar at around 11:30pm. We assumed that we wouldn't get a place to sit, due to our tardiness, but we fully anticipated on mingling around the bar and hanging out.

After we got out of the cab, Jason led the way and walked towards the entrance. Next to the entrance were a group of 6 female hostesses as well as a security guard. As Jason was moving past the security guard, the guy grabbed him and asked him where he was going. When my friend pointed inside, the guard responded that there were no more tables available. I responded that we would sit at the bar or not even need a seat. Both suggestions came up empty. The guard refused us entry.

This was an extremely weird situation considering that this never happens in China. Of all the clubs I’ve been to in China, in more than 15 different cities, I have never been turned away at the door. The Chinese bars do not have a line to get in or a small, exclusive capacity. They are designed excessively to maximize revenue. Anyone and everyone is allowed in.

As we walked away, we rationalized being turned away because this place was probably that cool. It was soooo incredibly trendy that it was already full. We gotta check this place out!

Before we walked 2 blocks, my friend Simon called me from inside Richy bar. He had just gotten in a couple of minutes before with my other cousin, Annie. . They stated that even though there were a lot of people, it was not at capacity.

With this revelation, Jason and I quickly ran back towards the club, assuming that a large group had just left. We also asked Simon and Annie to come out and get us. This time when the 4 of us attempted to get in, Jason was the last one in line. The 3 of us Chinese people didn't get hassled at all. Jason was stopped again.

Security Guard: You cant go in.
Me: It’s cool, he’s with us.
Security Guard: Does your friend know how to speak Chinese?
Me: Of course he does (talking slowly so that Jason could follow suit).
Jason: 我当然能说中文.

The guard looks him over again and finally lets him in.

We only stayed for a little bit inside. The music was good. The girls were hot and the ambiance was nice. It was, however, too crowed and difficult to get drinks.

When we walked outside and stood by the door, deciding where to go instead, Jason got a chance to talk to the security guard.

Jason: Why didn't you let me in before?
Secruity Guard: I didn't want any trouble.

I never knew that Jason was that big of a threat…

Chugging Wine

I went to KTV last night. Awesome times.

Chinese people (or maybe Asian people if you include short Japanese businessmen) love to sing. They just love it.

Without getting into all of the absurdity funny and interesting parts of Chinese KTV, I wanted to briefly talk about what we drank.

As some of you know by now, the wine industry in China has grown at a 30% rate for the past 2 years. That's incredible. The normal observer would guess that the reason behind this growth has been from the new middle class, eager to get their hands (and lips) on clique western lifestyle-esque things.

The argument usually goes something like this:

As more and more people in China are making more money, this new middle class craves more luxuries. One needs to look no further than the auto industry or Louis handbags (real ones) to see that this is most definitely true. If the wine industry is talked about with this framework, it would be: Chinese middle class consumers, who are trying to become more and more western are driving this expanding market. This growth, of the wine industry shows that they are drinking wine to adopt a higher-class lifestyle.

Last night at KTV, I finally realized that wine is very different from this classic model.

We had a total of 5 bottles of wine between the 8 of us. At 180 yuan a piece (buy 4, get 1 free), we enjoyed our Cabernet…with ice, sprite and orange slices.

Yea. If you have never seen this, it is most definitely a sight to see. Just as Chinese people love mixing good whiskey with green tea, they enjoy mixing ice, sprite and red wine.

This was actually the first time I’ve seen it myself, and I realized a few things:

• After my initial hesitation, the combo was actually pretty good. It tasted sweet and yummy. Imagine the Chinese version of Sangria
• Wine wasn't drunk to be savored. It was drunk to be chugged. At no point in the night did anyone buy me try to savor and taste of the red wine itself. Everyone else just played dice with it.
• As my friend Jason has said: Chinese people love the sweet drinks. Adding sprite, ice and orange slices to a bitter wine definitely achieves that objective. Now let’s see how successful coffee-flavored coke becomes.
• Chinese people love transforming foreign things and make it their own. Look at McDonald’s, TVs at restaurants and traffic laws.

The Chinese “enjoyment” of wine is currently non-existent. There is only a very small population of people in China that know anything about wine and how to drink it. The movie Sideways was definitely not a hit here.

Everyone else has moved wine from the high-cultured place it holds in US culture to a basic mix beside beers and whiskey-green tea. Now, instead of people drinking beer or whiskey at the local bar/club/ktv, some of them are ordering wine. This is where the massive growth of wine comes from (combined with the fact that it wasn’t really in China before).

China: creation by destruction.

Chinese Small Business Taxation

For those of you who haven’t lived in the UWS of Manhattan or haven’t gone to school at Columbia, you probably don't know that much about Koronet's pizza.

Koronet's Pizza- between 110th and 11th on broadway is THE best pizza in nyc. TRUST ME. just go there. their pies are about 3.5' in diameter, and the slices are almost two feet long... fun! cheap! a definite neighborhood hangout if there ever was one.
http://www.citynoise.org/article/71

This place is small, cozy and friendly. The Hispanic guys behind the counter are quick and efficient and after a couple of drinks themselves, they become very generous. The best part about Koronet’s (aka K-nets) is that during the weekend, it is open until 3am. During my college days, I definitely made many a trips there for a last minute pit-stop before going to bed after drunken night bar-hopping the Columbia neighborhood. In fact, the first night I spent at Columbia included drinks at the West End (RIP) and pizza at Koronet’s. That greasy pizza just hits the spot.

The Chinese version of Koronet’s pizza is the neighborhood sidewalk barbeque. These are small mom and pop operations on the side of the street where all they need is a makeshift grill, meat and veggies on a stick, and a few chairs and tables. No matter where you go in China, you’ll find these little operations EVERYWHERE.

Last night I was walking around with my cousin, Simon, just south of the Shanghai Hotel (上海宾馆) in Shenzhen. We had already been drinking for a while, but wanted to go buy some snacks for the night. After getting our assortment of chips, crackers, cherry tomatoes and tangerine oranges, we started walking back to the KTV room all our friends were at.

In the middle of our walk, Simon decided to stop at one of these little bbq places and get some chicken wings. While waiting for the thing to cook, we hung out and chatted. The husband/wife team operating the place were very nice people. They gave us chairs while we waited and chatted with us. Being interested in their little business, I asked them about how easy it was to make money. It turns out that the margins were decent 30% to 40% but most of the profit depended on the volume of sales. In a given weekend night, they could sell as much as 700 yuan worth of food (remember: each the individual bbq skewers cost between 2 and 5 yuan. That’s a pretty decent side business for migrant workers trying to make a buck or 2 at night.

Before we were done with the conversation, we discussed the costs of the coal, the veggies and meat, ect. The highest costs came from the meat they buy as well as their makeshift bbq grill. Each one of these stainless steel U-shapped sheets cost about 3 yuan each. However, they prepare a lot of them each night.

Without understanding the reasons behind that (I was a little tipsy), the husband, who was in charge of the grill quickly took the top grill piece of and placed it (with the meat) away from the grill. A split second later, a pickup truck/minivan with 3 guys quickly stopped right next to us. A person came quickly came out, went over to the makeshift grill and dumped the coals on the ground. In my confusion, I thought these people worked for the little business and were going to help them change their coal to a new batch. However, after the guy dumped the coal out, he went back into his car and drove off.

What just happened!?!?

“Why did a guy jump out and dump your coal on the ground?” I asked.

The husband/wife explained that those guys were cops who’s job was to enforce business permits. Since they did not have one and were doing their own thing on the street, they were something illegal. Who knows what kind of “cops” they were.>

Not completely understanding, I asked, “why didn't he just destroy your stand and throw your food on the ground?”

It turned out that these police never were violent, but only confiscated the different 3yuan makeshift grills. Without going into too much detail, the couple just continued saying how difficult it was to make money, while simultaneously placing the dumped coals back into the makeshift grill to finish our chicken order.

Before our food was done, the same truck made a U turn and came back in our direction. I could see it coming for a ways away and I became quite nervous for the couple. They don't make that much money in the business and have to constantly look over their back in search for police who could, at any time, screw them over.

After Simon’s chicken finished cooking, were continued walking back towards our private room singing KTV. Before we could walk too far, a different van pulled over. This time, the husband quickly ran over to his supply of grills to replace the one that was about to be confiscated. While stopped to watch from a distance, the husband quickly went back to his stand with his brand new grills before the police even left.

“What the hell is he doing,” I asked Simon. “Isn’t his new grill going to be taken away too?”

Before he could answer, the husband walked over to the police man who was confiscating his grill and GAVE him his new one!

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!

While walking with Simon and talking about this, I finally understood what was going on:

• The police officers could never arrest any of these people because there are just soo many of them. In the general area I was in, there were at least about 1000 different little bbq’s being run at that time of night. The jails can’t hold that many people.
• It was not in the officer’s interest to tear up the stand. It’s his job to deter these kinds of business, but in actuality, these officers were probably from the countryside as well and knew how hard it was to earn money.
• The business owners know that the officers have a certain “quota” for confiscated grills per night. Therefore if they just gave the officers the grill and extra ones, the officers would 1. leave them alone, 2. leave others alone and 3. not come back in a while. I kind of compare this to American State Troopers and their monthly “quota” for speeding tickets.
• A specific system of conduct has been created for these interactions…a social contract, if you will, between the illegal businesses and the police.

A couple of hours after this event, I revisited it with Simon while we were playing pool. He added something very interesting to the situation.

It seems that after the teams of 3 would confiscate about 50 grills per night. Afterwards, they would SELL the grills back to the operators of these businesses the next day for 3yuan!

HAHA. How crazy is this? It kind of reminds me my senior year International Politics class when we analyzed the illicit economies in Kosovo in the late 1990s. (If you don't know, a black market was formed where one side was basically supplying the other side with weapons that was shooting back at them.)

I really think this event shows how business is done in China. Of course, it’s true that not all business leaders and government officials are corrupt, but from my experience, it seems semi accurate.

For any business to be able to operate properly, it needs

• to find a good market (people wanting munchies after going out at night)
• to make decent margins/profit
• to work within the establish social standard of interaction between the government and the specific industry
• to “pay off” the proper people, whether its for building permits or restaurant licenses (the 3 yuan grills) so that they don't bother you too much

Ultimately, its true that the officials always have the upper hand. In this story, they confiscated the grills and resold them back to the businesses, only to confiscate them later…a revolving cycle. The funny thing is that this governmental advantage is very much part of the Chinese tradition where the government will, do and should profit from any of its businesses making a profit. Think of it as a tax…