照片转载于wikipedia

I went to Suzie Wong night club on Wednesday night, the first night for the May holiday. I have been to Suzie Wong many times in 2004 and 2005. It was one of the coolest club in town. It was named the editor’s choice for That’s Beijing magazine (an English magazine that dedicated to the expatriate community).

The club offers a densely packed dance floor, quite retreat to many private chambers that were decorated with the antique marriage beds, a good mix of local Chinese, and international expatriates. The entrance fee was free and the drinks were authentic. It was a seen and beseen place and perhaps the most IN night club in town.

I visited Suzie Wong a few more times in 2006 and 2007. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it had expanded to the top floor balcony and added one more additional floor downstairs. The club started to charge entrance fee of 50RMB for Friday nights and Saturday nights. A Russian model told me that she was offered free entrance and some times free drinks there, a clever business strategy to attract desired clients.

The World of Suzie Wong, the name came from a novel that is staged in HongKong, a story of a Chinese lady fall into a western man. Among all such stereotype stories in the English media, the Chinese lady is always portraited as low social statues or even a gold digger and the western man is portraited as her savoir. Suzie Wong night club is clearly designed for such as backdrop in mind.

When I was helping him with his hotel booking, one of the investor to our company, a Germany guy who only came to Beijing a few times asked me if his hotel was close to Suzie Wong, a clear sign of the club’s international fame. Another hot shot private equality investor who just landed in Beijing the first time in his life also asked the location of Suzie Wong. I decided to pay a visit again last Wednesday.

I was surprised to find out that the entrance was free. Most of the tables have minimum consumption requirement of 500 to 2000 RMB and they were empty (with a reserved signs on but most of the clients never show up and the waiter cleverly offer to you at a discount because you are his special freiend). The seats around the bar counters were free but there were not enough chairs. I arrived around 10pm. It quickly came to me that I arrived too early as the floor was mostly empty. The top floor balcony was quite and was almost filled. I later settled down in a table on the lower floor. The music was ok with a blend of R&B and techno. I ordered a Black Label for 40RMB and enjoyed the music; the ambient and the crowd which consists of mostly expatiate western men and dressed up young Chinese women.

I left the club at about 11pm, the time when most of the people were showing up.

I had a very interesting episode with the parking lady. The parking attendant asked me to pay 10RMB for the parking. I told her to show me the parking sign (a board put up by the Beijing municipal government which spells out the parking fees). She said that there was no parking sign and there was no “official” price, referring that the price is negotiable. I refused to pay her and asked for her supervisor’s telephone number. Then she said that she did not know the supervisor’s telephone number but could offer me a discount of only 5RMB/parking. I told her that unless she can show me the official parking sign with price or the supervisor’s telephone number, I am going to pay her with the most standard Beijing parking price outside 3rd right which is 2RMB/hour. Then she stunned me by saying: Sir, you drive a car so that you must be rich. I am a parking attendant and I am poor. Could you please just pay me 5RMB?

What? Are you a parking attendant of a beggar or a thieve? In certain occasions like this one, it is hard to tell the difference.