So, farewell then...

.... to the YPHH (or Young Professionals' Happy Hour, to give it its full name - as almost no-one ever did).

You may well ask what I can ever have had to do with such an entity, since I am usually lacking in any of the three criteria - but it was a very broad church. I used privately to think of it as the Middle-Aged Unemployables' Miserable Evening (which at least made for a better acronym).

The YPHH was a 'networking club'; although, unlike many such forums in this city, it was always very informal - even a little louche and unrespectable at times - with more of an emphasis on partying than making business connections.

I arrived in Beijing shortly after it had got going, and for my first couple of years here I was a regular at most of its get-togethers (mainly the once-a-month cocktail evenings to promote some newly-opened bar or restaurant, although there were occasionally 'special events' such as dinners, wine-tastings, etc.). I have made several good friends through these parties. I have particularly fond memories - or memory losses - of the Christmas Party at the (short-lived) Huxley's 2 bar in my first year. There was a 'free flow' of drinks up until 9pm or so, but the staff were remarkably tolerant of us laying in drinks for later - with the result that the hard-core drinkers amongst us had soon each annexed one of the small round tables for ourselves and were covering them with gins or whiskies "for later"; thus, the 'free' drinking went on, I think, until well after midnight - although I have no clear recollection.

This institution was valuable and necessary in those days - at least to impoverished new arrivals like me - because the networking scene, the Western bar scene was far more limited back then. It gave me the impetus to go exploring in unfamiliar parts of the city to find that month's venue. It gave me a chance to experience a level of living - cocktail bars and fancy restaurants and rubbing shoulders with people who have real (and unimaginably well-paid) jobs with foreign companies - that I could not ordinarily afford. It enabled me to try out bars or restaurants that I was unlikely ever to return to once the special promotions had been replaced by the regular price list. And it was - at that time - about the only way I ever got to meet women (well, non-Chinese women, that is).

Back then, the number of foreigners here was far, far lower. And there wasn't really any bar scene to speak of, outside of the little clusters around Sanlitun/Workers' Stadium and Chaoyang Park. The lakes area around Houhai and the Wudaokou 'student' scene were only just starting to develop; now, they are arguably as big or bigger than Sanlitun. And there are all sorts of new bar zones springing up: Nanluoguxiang, Lucky Street, Lady Street.

Students, teachers, or travellers trying to survive on an income as meagre as mine was in my first year might still appreciate an opportunity to sample the 'high life' on the cheap once a month - but Western-friendly bars and restaurants are far more numerous and more accessible these days, and I really think it's not nearly as difficult to meet people as it was 5 years or so ago.

So, perhaps the dear old YPHH has outlived its usefulness, been overtaken by the astonishing growth and increasing 'internationalization' of the city. And its creator, a manic, scarily intense Dutchman called Piet, has other - potentially far more lucrative - projects to pursue now. (I did once discuss taking over the Beijing operation from him, as he developed plans to franchise the idea elsewhere around China and South-East Asia; but to me it always seemed more like a diverting but time-consuming hobby, rather than a significant source of income.)

It has, in fact, been pretty much in abeyance for the past year or so; and even before that, its appeal to me had been waning as Piet shifted away from the original free entry/discounted drinks model to flat fee/all-you-can-drink (which tended to produce an ugly melée of thrifty alcoholics at the bar, a hopelessly overburdened serving staff, and venues desperately seeking to protect their under-threat profit margins by watering down the drinks).

I had been intending to go to their final 'farewell party' last night, but...... well, with the recent loss of momentum behind the event, I wasn't at all confident that anyone else would be going (the last one I went to a month or so back was almost deserted)..... and I decided that I'd prefer to keep my memories of the 'good old days' unsullied by a disappointing send-off.

The 'good old days' were often pretty damn good, though. We'll miss you, YPHH.