Did you offer to pay 150 kuai for the sign instead? Could have been an A!

@johanes
Thanks for filling us in. Love it that you got B ranked for 70rmb. Display that proudly and put a donation box under it. I so want your dive bar to get an A next time!

About the ratings: only officially registered restaurants get them I believe. Bars and clubs aren't included.
I've never seen an A though.

Guanxi rating, i love it....haaa..

There was some Thai place way down in the South by Golden Eagle on Dianchi Road that had a A rating—oddly though, that place gave me the worst food poisoning of my life... so yeah, guanxi rating. Love it.

is that the thai place on the roof that is f***ing astromical prices.

There is a Thai place with an A rating in the Wang fu jing mall, 5th floor (take elevator), north end. The prices are pretty high but the environment is pretty nice. It has a huge stone wall with water running down it and the "A" guanxi level sign is nearby the counter just past the toilets. Oh its called Bamboo Leaf.

I have been to Bamboo Leaf. A live floor show, miming into a banana as a substitute microphone. The food was ok though.

@Elisa.
This might help to answer your original question:
"Mainland industries bribing their way to quality-control certification"
—> www.scmp.com/[...]