Beijing Boyce

Because I am now able to simultaneously drink beer, read email, hum Teresa Deng songs and ride a stationary bicycle*, regular blog contributor The Villlage Grouch decided I should further boost my multitasking capabilities and join Twitter.

I did and will post about nightlife in Beijing, including bar openings and closings, reviews, wine events, and, for the next month, The Olympics. If that interests you, then follow my account:

https://twitter.com/beijingboyce

* If this combination were an Olympic event, I would take home the gold.

A second update on the South China Morning Post story that claims Beijing is “secretly” trying to ban blacks and Mongolians from bars during the Olympics.

I hit some Sanlitun bars last night and made some phone calls today, and this is what I found:

- An owner said police met with Sanlitun bar reps and told them to monitor black patrons. He said the police told the reps that drug dealers are predominantly black in the area. He said the police did not ask bar owners to ban blacks.

- Several Sanlitun area bar owners said they had not been told by police to ban blacks or Mongolians.

- I also spoke to several people in the restaurant business and they told me they have not heard of police telling city eateries to ban people.

- Most interesting, two people working at one bar had different perspectives on the terminology used by the police. One said the police used “black” in reference to skin color; while the other said it was used in terms of bad elements (the Chinese character for “black” is part of a phrase used to describe criminals).

I will provide more info as it becomes available.