@HFCAMPO
I am genuinly curious... I would love to hear what an 'original' way of meeting "new" people is in your eyes.

I guess meeting new people just leads to a few options; going out [F&B], joining some sort of social establishment/group, clubs, or the internet.

Plus I dunno what is so terrible about sitting in a cafe [preferably outside] in beautiful Yunnnan and chat and hang out for hours.

I remember I was invited to a gathering where only pre selected people were invited [thanks to a friend] and man that was the most boring and terrible thing ever, looking at photo albums and the garden [nice garden though] but dunno what to look at after an hour of staring at flowers.
In the end my friend and I bailed and went to a cafe/lounge, we never got invited again. lol

Won't do that again for a while.

Movie Club - watch 1 movie per week or month and select a movie from the Academy Awards List. This brings people together and has much room for discussion. Each person watches the movie on their own at home and then meet at one person's home and watch the movie again together and discuss the film. This requires a lot of time together. Need to meet in advance to give movie to those who do not have it and time for discussion.

Travel Club - Meet once per week or month and travel to diff locations. I have done this before and gone to one Historical and Cultural Town in Yunnan every month. This is for people with time and money who can get away because some of these towns needs 2-3 days to make the trip. Birds of a feather. People who do this must be equally yolked as far as interests and physical shape. Can not have a young buck with an old timer who needs a walker.

Current Events Night - Of course we do NOT meet at a lounge or Cafe. Meet at a diff perosns house each week. Discuss current events, learn history and Geography. Understand the true reasons why these current issues are taking place.

Here are a few suggestions that have nothing to do with a bar, pub, or alcohol. For the few suspicious minds out there. I am NOT a former alcoholic who is in recovery and needs to run from the booze. My life just does not center around drinking every single day.

The most important issue is to be honest and learn to self disclose. I put my website and picture and age on this forum for all to read but most people like to be cryptic and never truly reveal anything about themselves. Or they sit back and wait for others to make first contact.

Some good ideas there HFCAMPO.

I'd be interested in movie club, if anyone want's to arrange it. :)

Paragliding under the influence of baijiu
Wine tasting and brutally honest restaurant critique meetup at BillDan's

HFCAMPO, I'd like to make a suggestion.
Clubs aside, since travel seems to be a big passion for you and you seem to know so many spots in Yunnan, why not organize guided tours? And this would be for both locals and people from outside China, so it would allow you to meet more people than the limited pool of expats here. No need to reply. Just a suggestion.

@HFCAMPO
Wow, you really hate pubs and cafes, huh?
The items you mentioned are activities available at lounges or bars, just moving them into an apartment doesn't make them more original, IMHO.

-Movie nights, available at Roberts (a school), and I think a few of the WLJ joints have that, too.
-Curent events chat, available at any cafe or pub at any given time.
-travel groups meet up ....always somebody looking for fellow travellers in the classifieds. Especially these days with the holidays coming up.

I'm respecting you choices and opinions but going to a cafe or pub once or twice a month to meet people is not exactly 'a life centered around booze'.

And I agree with Magnifico, maybe you should organize tours or events in your range of interests, so that would solve most of your inconveniences plus it would give otheres the chance to meet people, away from pubs and such.

The last thing about honesty, I actually think that the internet is a very honest place, more than the real world, thanks to its anonymousity. So I see it as something positive, that we can stay anonymous.

I've been able to meet a lot of nice people in my BJJ club and various tea-sampling events. So keep digging!

Try Toastmasters - - great group (even chance for self-improvement)!!
Cheers - - JJ

@yankee00 well when i said "discuss" i don't mean just complain or hindsight. I've talked to many chinese guys(less girls) about politics of history, most of them are just complaining about the country, or the jealousness towards rich people. maybe i just met wrong people.

So, your boyfriend only gets jealous when you talk to foreign guys.