I want to try to give you further insight (acerbic or not, you be the judge) into a bit of the culture that I have been immersed in during my extended stay here. It would never be written into a guidebook or found on the tourism webites but it is a my best accounting of "ordinary" life. I want to tell you about it through my good friend Charlie.
Charlie has owned the Cha Li Bing Ba (no surprise where his English name came from) in Baoding for the last 13 years. That is no small feat in this city whereby if you do not curry favor with the local gangsters, they will put you out of business through vandalism or other acts of adolescent thuggery. Broken windows, doors and other such shenanigans are the tricks of the trade for them when things don't go their way. Other charlatans come under the guise of city officials. These men who might happen to show up at night for a safety inspection, assessment of the property or other ficticious municpal code enforcements are treated to free rounds, cigarettes and sunflower seeds. They stagger out later that evening after a job well-done and satisfied that all at the Bing Ba is on the up and up. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between who is a city official and who is likely to throw a brick.
Other trouble has found it's way to the Cha Li Bing Ba. In a long-ago altercation, Charlie was blind-sided by a bottle and lost an eye. He now sports a glass eye in it's place which only enhances his legend. To avoid further bodily momentos, he has developed remarkable diplomatic skills in dealing with all manner of patrons from the Trouble Seekers, the Baijiu-philes (baijiu is a widely consumed and potent Chinese wine that tastes like feet soaked in kerosene), the Extramaritals with their For-hire Gals, and my group of foreigners who congregate there. His affable nature and good humor keep he and his safe and held in high regad for all that enter. To juggle all of these different factions existing in a small, dimly lit, smoky environ is a long honed skill.
In the past 10 months we have forged a meaningful relationship with Charlie and see him as friend, benefactor and guardian. More often than not, patrons are intrigued upon seeing my clique sitting in the bar. This often results in an invitation or more aptly, insistence, to drink with them. Being seen with a foreigner is a good way for some of these groups to increase their social status or guan xi (guan xi literally translated means "relationship" but the broad vernacular understanding is: the more important and/or wealthy people you associate with, the more important you, yourself are). As foreigners, we are perceived as exotic creatures and therefore being seen tossing back a few and speaking broken English and Chinese is akin to hanging out with the Stones. Light social drinking does not exactly exist here in China (it is whole hog or not at all), and the festivities often take a turn for the slurred.
Enter Charlie.
With their party hats on, many do not know when to say when, but through his tenure Charlie does. He has a knack for arriving at just the right moment to aid our escape from the all of the excess. He clears any and all misunderstandings that may have occured due to language barriers and intoxication to make sure nobody was offended. Because saving face is of the utmost importance, it takes a master tactician to gently break up the party and move them into their respective taxis. Simply tossing people out would be a grave mistake and would result in many undesireable results. Through gentle coaxing, sublte suggestions and a smile, Charlie maintains peace and a successful business amid debauchery.
He has intervened on our behalf more times than I care to admit and allows us to enjoy our watery beer in moderation.
