Eric's Beijing Diary

Welcome to the "Hello Cafe." It's a cafe on the fourth floor of the new cafeteria building. The name doesn't surprise me. It is the one English word that absolutely everyone in China knows how to say. I was here for several hours today with my lab assistants, going over the final exam from the undergraduate class. There are getting to be more and more places like this. Part of the reason is that there is a growing international youth culture in Beijing. The lion's share of these young people live here in the university district on the Upper West Side. But I don't know how easy it will be for this cafe to cash in on that business. Beihang University is a very Chinese university, so there are a few foreign students, but not that many. But there are quite a few universities nearby. It remains to be seen how many of them will be attracted here, but I would expect that it could become popular. The menu offers items that one cannot get at a Chinese restaurant. There are places like TGIF that offer American menus, but you pay through the nose for them. Here at the Hello Cafe, a steak sandwich goes for 25 RMB. The Bar B-Q pork sandwich is 10 RMB. It would be considered an expensive meal by an average student, but it is a lot cheaper than what the same item would cost at a foreign restaurant.