Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

A friend of mine now living in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, recently posted on Facebook about how a club let white foreigners in for free and gave them free drinks, while charging Chinese for admission. She expressed puzzlement at this rather than, as I would probably have done in her situation, anger. Subsequently a Chinese-born British friend of hers posted on his blog about the times in Beijing where he had been turned away or made to pay, while the foreigners were allowed in or without charge, as long as they were white.

Discrimination in favor of foreigners unfortunately still seems widespread in the glamour industries. Nightclubs usually reserve the right to admit who they like. It may be discriminatory, but as private clubs it's within the law in most countries. In the UK, nightclub tickets usually have on the bottom "R.O.A.R. - right of admission reserved." In lower-end places this might mean only the incapably drunk will be turned away, while more upscale venues might refuse denim.

Some easy hunting grounds for one-night stands will let women in free at the start of the night, the better to encourage men to attend. Steve Rubell, the owner of New York's famous 1970s celeb-hangout Studio 54, would stand at the door and select a few of the most glamorous from the massed throng desperately seeking to ascend into heaven. (People would literally cry, "Take me with you!" at those chosen).

But these are all good business strategies: unfair perhaps, but you can see the logic. But why, then, are foreigners being selected above locals? It must be embittering to be discriminated against in your own country, and a bad PR move on the club's part, so what's the rationale? I somehow don't think it's because foreigners are more free-spending than locals. A teacher's salary doesn't get many of those 60 yuan ($9.15) cocktails. The high-rollers in the clubs are locals. They're the ones ordering the bottles of Courvoisier VSOP or Chivas.

With the Chinese nightclub scene extremely competitive and renowned for clubgoers' absence of loyalty to any venue, it's imperative for clubs to retain a buzz as the place-to-go. Indeed, there is something in the Chinese nightlife culture that actively inhibits that. Consider the KTV practice where customers obtain a room based on the amount of alcohol you buy at the start.

The same procedures also operate in higher-end bars and clubs. Some nightclubs similarly have table service or VIP rooms, with glass walls so you can see, and be seen, if your group buys a certain amount at the start. This might be fun for those who seek approval from the masses, but for clubbing it is death. Where is the interaction, the spontaneity? How can you chat with strangers and flirt with those you've cast eyes at on the dancefloor? Getting more foreigners in these types of clubs might well be a way to develop that essential party atmosphere. Some clubs reputedly pay white foreigners to fill the dancefloor, to give the club that international reputation that brings in the high-rollers. This, sadly, says a lot about wealthy Chinese and their sense of what is desirable. And here, again, we have another example of copycat China. Even the club atmosphere is fake. 

But for regular clubs, where the manager just wants to get the numbers in without VIP rooms or table service, selecting foreigners to get in free seems rather more dubious. If Chinese clubbers party with the same attitude as foreigners, then there's no good reason to be selecting any group ahead of them. The right music, the right bar staff, the right atmosphere, the right décor - that will bring the crowds. But that requires hard work and constant attention, not the creation of racist admittance standards.

The author has been a freelance journalist in China since 2008. Follow him at @bucketoftongues. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion