So, let's cut all the political correctness formalities and just say that its a shithole,

have been to Henan province many many years ago, and yes, it is a shithole. There is really nothing there for any foreigner who values him/herself and wants a social life, also the weather in winter is miserable beyond words.

After all, that's what most people say about certain parts of Liverpool.

Are you from liverpool perchance?

The chinese used to ramble on about Hangzhou being the most beautiful city, but in the suburbs you can find the same shitty apartments and dirty streets, people of any city should remember, the sewer lines run underneath them too!!!!

As for suggesting that foreigners shouldn't go out to bars at night, how silly of you! There's just two simple rules, which are:

I stopped going out to bars in China after I got attacked by 3 chinese guys one night, even after I had helped settle a fight they were having with some german guys. If you go out to bars in China, sooner or later, you will become a cropper. You do know a lot of them sell FAKE alcohol?

1.) Don't be a nob (people probably won't want to fight you, if you aren't a nob).

True. But given the increase in xenophobia, it may just be something as simple as you sat with a chinese girl, who is only a friend, that pisses a chinese guy off.

When a person says that bars in Chinese cities are dangerous places, I can't help but laugh... It's not as though there's large amounts of weapons being brought by gangs into a club, which often used to be the case in certain parts of the U.K. Not to mention, certain bars in American redneck towns.

I have seen a guy stabbed on the street in Shenzhen, in broad daylight, with a metal pipe in my first year in China....and I would be told that China is very safe, and Shenzhen one of the safest cities. Then there was the burglar I found prowling around outside my shoebox flat, and my phone getting stolen, among other stories.Then there was the british guy and his chinese wife who got followed home from a restaurant, their taxi window smashed in, and assaulted and robbed.Even chinese themselves will look down on people who hang out in bars as "trash" or people with nothing to do each day, and admit they attract a bad element. Often times, they are in cahoots with the police and local mafia....either group is not one, that an FT, wants to fall foul of.

I saw a chinese guy violently smash up a phone and some bottles as the girl behind one bar stood silent. They don't need weapons, a bottle is a weapon surely? As is a fist and boot, or a big stick? Ever seen some of the ktvs or clubs have metal detectors? Then there was kunming railway station massacre as well.

Weapons don't kill people. People kill people. Perhaps we need some people control, or should we ban knives, rice cookers, and baseball bats?