Why is the social scene in Suzhou so dire?

Hi everyone. This is my first post on the saloon. I would like to leave the following for you to mull over. I'm currently living in Suzhou, having done so for the past six months. I have to say that the expat social scene is, at the very least somewhat lacklustre. Bar Street Shiquan Jie is virtually dead. The only life you seem to find is the over 50s male expat propped on a bar stool staring into his drink like its a crystal ball containing the meaning of life. Ive been to most, if not all the foreign bars on that street and there are some good bars like Whiskey Jacks, and Hollywoods. But even on weekends these places are still lacking numbers. I have also been to new Harry's and found it to be quite mediocre.

I've been told that 'back in the day' maybe three years ago Suzhou was buzzing, especially Shiquan, which apparently was at the pulse. What happened to this mythical era? Or is it just a myth? I know InPub gets a big crowd but its not my cup of tea, too crowded and noisy.

 I just thought I'd write this post to express my disappointment really. I expected a really vibrant expat scene, but there doesn't seem to be one common area where FT or expats can converge, instead they are sporadically scattered in various places. Some people say it's because the big nightclubs such as Phobes and the like are drawing the crowds, and New Harry's isn't as good as the old Harry's back in the day .

So, as I believe the senior moderators of this site are resident in Suzhou-or maybe not anymore:) or at least seem to have intimate knowledge of the place I was wondering if you could give me the font of your wisdom on this social phenomenon:) At the moment, I go to Shanghai for a decent time, and come the end of my contract I am seriously considering moving there. Penny for them

Thanks and Regards

Welcome, Rymc  


Con! Raoul!  I think this would be a question for you guys....

Maybe for Con. I'm out of the loop.

I left a couple years ago and the whole thing went straight to shit.

Just kidding...even I'm not normally quite that egotistical.
But I am stunned to read this. When I was there, Suzhou had a live-wire expat social scene second to none. Where'd it all go?

I visited a friend there recently and we went to a hub that was a bit out of the town centre - there was a western restaurant called 'Jacks' and then we went on to a bar - 'The Blue Marlin'.  It was all very ex-patty (Filipino band!) but lively enough.  The pool table was in constant use.

I also had a nose around Shiquan Jie but likewise there was nothing doing. The Bookworm down that way was nice but also very quiet.

There was a nationwide crackdown on prostitution last year.

The problem when reading about a booming scene on expat forums or blogs is that it is here-and-now. Like everything else in China, these things change fast. By the time you read about how Suzhou is hopping, or Changchun is all wonderful, and (insert city's name) is happening, unless you drop everything and jump right into the thick of it while the word is still fresh, you could very well end up arriving in a lull by the time you get to a particular city. "Scenes" are ephemeral. They come and go. You have to build your own fun here. Rather than choose a city because it has a "vibrant" expatriate scene, choose one where you can go out and have fun with the friends you make here. You make your own scene. In my years here, most "vibrant" expatriate circles are actually sad reminders of what you'd find back home; nothing close to the neighbourhood pub scene I left behind. It is difficult to maintain a "scene," when so many folks come and go. I'm sure Suzhou will have another round of happening times, but it sounds like you reached the city when it's at a low point. Also, the economy isn't so hot right now. Food prices are through the roof, TEFL salaries haven't jumped up as much in the last two years as they did previously. Less cash to make and more money to spend; sometimes people entertain at home.

My advice to you is to find some friends you enjoy hanging out with and find a joint that you enjoy frequenting and make it your base of operations. Invite friends of friends and acquaintances to drop by. Build things up step by step. It starts out slow and with enough time and regularity your seed blossoms and you build your own scene. I travel to many cities in China and stick around for months at a time in one calendar year because of my education-based job. Sometimes the city I visited six months ago has night life just north of dead. Six months later a new crop of people are in town and pubs that were low key and dead are brimming with life, and vice-versa. It's simply timing.

very true Rollerboogie

when I was in Chengdu in 2008 there was a fairly decadent scene centered around the Paris Cafe

talking to my friend who's still there she informs me that all the places we used to go to are now closed (probably because they were foreign owned, and the owners hav moved on)

with a city like Chengdu I'm sure it's just a case of the focus moving to another area, but it just goes to show that expat scenes are, as you say, ephemeral

excellent reply rollerboogie.  Ive never really understood peoples need to hang out with expats. i figure if i wanted to hang with people of my own kind then i would have just stayed in my home country. Im here in china to experience the people and the culture so ive carved out a group of people that i feel comfortable with and i frequent all the places that i feel are chinese haunts so i can do some culture wallowing.  Dont get me wrong i love a chat with someone whose native tongue is the same as mine, but a weekly lunch or an occasional visit satisfies that need. I just think if people coming over here made a bigger effort to make chinese friends then their social lives would flourish.   A fellow saloonie is a typical person that i think has the balance right here. she has a group of chinese friends whom she hangs with and a splattering of expats too. job done!

Yeah I tend to have about 3 foreign friends that are really close mates and the rest are Chinese.
If you don't have a lot of Chinese friends then you tend to miss out on a lot of things to see and to do. It also helps me not to feel too foreign as well.

To be fair to people who enjoy the company of other foreigners you really can meet people that you would NEVER meet back home if your city has a good expat scene. When I lived in Kunming I had friends from Italy, Japan, Slovenia, Mexico, Croatia, Australia, the UK, Poland, Sweden ... the list goes on and on. I don't really get the whole "if I wanted to hang out with people like me I'd have stayed home" thing (not just picking on you fox -- I hear lots of people say this) because expats are not all like me. There's no way I'd have had such an international group of friends back home and I think that's part of what makes expat scenes cool. There's also something a bit zany, a bit messed up, and a bit fascinating about us people who decide to leave our various countries and move to some random Chinese city. I guess I'm speaking as someone who lived in a city with a really great expat scene that was not just composed of English teachers but of people doing all sorts of random stuff but I can totally see the appeal.

I love my Chinese friends but there's no reason it has to be one or the other. You can enjoy a good expat scene and still have Chinese friends and sometimes the two will even converge (especially if you live someplace with a good local music/art scene). 

Rollerboogie does make a good point about scenes being transient though. It may be that Suzhou's scene has migrated to another area or is going through a dry spell. When I lived in Kunming the hub of expat activity tended to center on a particular area but over the years the main hangouts definitely shifted. Perhaps someone currently in Suzhou will weigh in on where the current hot spots might be.

One thing I learned in Suzhou was that the health of an expat scene has little to do with the number of expats, and just everything to do with who those expats are.

Suzhou in its glory days was blessed with a truly remarkable collection of expats, cutting across all ages and origins and other strata. Each in their own way, the people I loved there were bright, funny, creative, and living life full-tilt...a far cry from the morose food tubes who infest most expat communities in China (although we certainly had those, too... ). My crowd were people you really wanted to hang around with, not just the default English-speakers who happened to be in the same city you were in.

We were certainly NOT "insulating ourselves from China by only hanging out with expats", a largely bullshit sour-grapes allegation often voiced by people who can't find such expats to hang out with, or who can't keep up with them if they do. We all traveled, went to Chinese cultural events, and generally got down wid de homeys in all kinds of ways. We had Chinese who were regulars among us, we all had other Chinese friends, and most of us had Chinese spouses and lovers. We weren't missing a damn thing...we were just having a great life, while it lasted.

Some of the people I'm thinking of are still in Suzhou, most are not. It's not easy to find such a group in out home countries; in a Chinese city it was downright miraculous. It's an experience I'd value alongside any other I had in China, and its like may not be seen again for many days to come.

good point Local Dialect. i have met too many foreigners who tend to shy away from exposing themselves to the locals  . and only seek out fellow western friends. It is those people that i feel would benefit from getting out and about in the social scene and make inroads into getting to know local people.

In Australia it was never a problem for me, I had friends from all over the place in Brisbane.
Australia is a pretty diverse country I suppose, I always miss my mates from Brazil and some of my mates from Cuba and some other Latin countries. They ALWAYS know how to throw a great BBQ and party till you fall down from exhaustion. Shame I don't meet any here though