Absurd Chinese Bars

The past week or two of my life has been a nice mix of class, work, frisbee, making new friends, reading books, and eating delicious (and often times way too spicy) food. I have also gone out to a few loud and smoke filled bars, and have been thinking about how interesting it would be to study Chinese Bar/Club culture in more depth, since it is a very bizarre thing. It is a relatively new phenomenon, in which extremely wealthy, young Chinese people go out to dark, sleek clubs that have a lot of neon lights and music that is so loud that it actually physically hurts your heart (and soul) and kind of bounce around to the music and look uncomfortable. The really high rollers get their own private booths (you have to buy a certain absurd amount of alcohol in order to earn this right) and the music is generally somewhere on the "techno" spectrum. What I am describing is the "Chinese" club atmosphere. Meaning, these places are usually filled with mostly Chinese people. However, recently a lot of these clubs have created racist policies where they give free alcohol to any foreigners who show up, because they think that having white people in their bars is good for business and makes them look cool. My friend who is half Chinese and grew up in the states thinks that bars that have this type of deal are racist (white supremacist) because she is just as much of a foreigner as anyone else, but she doesn't look as much like one, and therefore the deal does not apply to her.
I am still not really comfortable with being treated like a celebrity in China (having small children point and stare, having old men greet me on the street and tell me that I should find a Chinese husband, having people ask to take my picture and having random strangers tell me that I have a really nice nose, eyes, hair texture) and so in the bar environment I try to attract as little attention to myself as possible. It is ironic though, because I know that when I go back to the states and there is no one saying these things to me or paying attention to me and yelling "hello" on the street I will definitely miss it. In the states I won't be special anymore, I will just be like everyone else.
But going to Chinese bars is a really interesting study in the surface relationship between Chinese and Foreigners. The first time that I walked into a bar with a few other white girls in China and we were given a complimentary fruit plate and a special booth just because we were foreigners, it really made me think; about what these young Chinese people think when they see a group of young white women and about what I may or may not be doing to reinforce or change their preconceived notions about who I am and what I am doing here.
A lot of the clubs are so loud that you literally have to pretty intensely scream into a persons ear in order to be heard. Speaking Chinese in such situations is hard, and can lead to some interesting misunderstandings. However, there is a "dice game" that people play that I happen to really like that doesn't involve any speaking, you just hold up different fingers and it is a fun way to bond with new Chinese friends.
I am not really sure what my point or message is in talking so extensively about the Chinese clubbing scene. I usually don't go out more than once a week, but every time I do it is generally a worthwhile, entertaining, and ridiculous experience. I am learning that dancing to techno can be fun and that people in Kunming are friendly and interesting. Plus, I never make any new friends if I just stay home.
For example, this Saturday night I went to a Purim Rave at a club across the street from Kunming's art college. It was pretty weird, in an entertaining way of course. The place had the feel of a drafty warehouse with creepy surrealist paintings on the wall, there were glow-stick Jewish stars hanging from the ceiling, Israeli flags over the walls, a bunch of Israeli men running the bar, and eerie music playing. Many people were in costumes and it was an interesting mix of Chinese and foreigners, mostly non-Jews. My favorite part of the evening was when an Israeli guy got up on stage and told the story of Purim in Chinese, especially since his Chinese was spoken with a Hebrew accent. Most of the people I was with didn't speak much Chinese and did not know the story of Purim, so they could not fully appreciate the absurdity of the situation, but I loved it.
Let the absurdity continue. In two days my brother will be here to share it with me, and I hope that by the time I send him home he will have a few bizarre stories of his own to share. Of course, they won't all be about going to bars.