A German, a Moroccan and an American walk into a bar…

By Paul Wegerson
Printed June 19, 2005

“Sometimes you gotta go! / Where everybody knows your name / and they’re always glad you came.” So goes the theme song to a classic American TV show, Cheers. The setting for the show is a local bar in Boston where the lives of its patrons are intertwined and the punch lines flow as freely as the pints.

Bars like this conjure a rare feeling of togetherness that likens patrons to family members. In Boston, they had Cheers bar. In Zhongshan, we’ve got Friends Bar.

Owned an operated since 1998 by Canadian, Hong Kong and Chinese men, Friends Bar offers the expatriate community a place to unwind and have a normal conversation over a pint of imported beer. American classic rock wails through the speakers and the walls are covered with posters of James Dean, Johnny Cash, Bob Marley and Mohammad Ali.

While Friends Bar has all the character and TV sets reminiscent of an American sports bar, the clientele is as international as the bottle selection. On any given weekend, one can find: Moroccan, German, Canadian, British, Italian, Romanian, Polish, Brazilian, American and Chinese nationals sharing a bucket of Tsing Tao, locked in an English conversation.

“In the beginning, it was a rougher crowd,“ says Canadian Gary Keeling, part owner and founder of Friends bar, “but in the past 3-4 years there’s been a shift. Eh? More foreigners came, we’ve got some great Chinese customers who introduced their business customers and more English teachers too.”

Friends Bar is a large center for expatriate activity, but many other restaurants and coffee houses offer authentic foreign cuisine. Papponi’s Ristorante imports cheeses, wines and other ingredients to make fresh pasta dishes and hearth oven pizzas. Masala Indian restaurant serves authentic Indian dishes and Just Coffee provides a quiet cup of java.

At these local joints, foreigners discuss international politics or life in China while they swap books or travel tips. These places offer refuge to members of the foreign community, but it is the local community that makes it possible. Zhongshan is unique in this aspect.

Keeling says that Friends Bar is thinking about expansion, but few Guangdong communities are ready for the concept. “The Zhongshan people are worldly wise and sophisticated enough to be open to it. They like to meet new people and get a taste of something different,” he said.

Zhongshan native Jessy Yang is a salesperson in a garment exporting company and has been going to Friends Bar for 5 years. “More foreigners have come [to Friends] recently, but also more Chinese. Many of my Chinese friends like to go there because the people are so easy to communicate with. It’s easy to make new friends and practice my English. Other Chinese bars are too dark and too loud to make that possible,” she said.

Zhongshan is becoming a cultural mixed salad; Friends Bar is Cheers. It’s a place where everyone knows your name, and they’re always glad you came.

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