Ever been strolling around a big Chinese city and wondered what is inside a Chinese office block? Well me too, so I decided to go to the top of one and walk down 29 whole floors to see what was going on.
This was done at my office building in Shenzhen where we host the YPT digs. It was also not my first time to do this, with this escapade being half confirmation, half and see hat had changed and finally half for a wee bit of exercise.
Table of Contents
What the Chinese Office Block?
My personal office, which you can read about here is in Guo Mao in downtown Luo Hu, which is the CBD (Central Business District) of Shenzhen. Shenzhen could have its whole own article, but it was the original special economic zone (SEZ) of China that was opened by Deng Xiaoping.
Originally it was all about manufacturing and exporting, but as things have developed this is now a tech and business city, so the companies that you find here are from that ilk, as well as exporting rather than manufacturing (usually). What is different about Chinese office blocks too is that because everything here is a tower block and space is limited there are a few things you would not expect.
To the Top Floor of the Chinese Office block
Our particular building has 29 floors which makes it one of the biggest in the area, but far from the biggest. From our view we could see at least two that were higher. Google has also told me that the tallest building in Shenzhen is the Ping An Finance Building which is 115 floors! I have not walked this building although I would be very much up for it.
So, what was the 29th floor like? Actually there was basically nothing this high up, although there seemed to be a locked entrance to going even higher to perhaps a viewing gallery or something. There is though no revolving restaurant like they have in North Korea, or indeed stagnant ones like in the building next door.
It was over the next few floors that things would get interesting…
A Chinese Spa in a Chinese Office Block
Chinese spas, Chinese KTV’s and Chinese massages tend to come 2×2 in that they are either legit, or not, or high-end, or not. There is no doubt that some of these spas were looking for lonely gentlemen, while others were in fact spas. We spotted 4 of these on the higher echelons of the building, as well as there being a throughly legit one on the second floor. Chinese buildings follow 1 being the bottom, with no ground floor nonsense.
All of them though were certainly of the high-end nature, or at least looked the part. Some had prices outside with what I assume to be real massages from around $20-25. We were tough gentlemen and did not explore too deeply.
Chinese KTV’s, Bars, and Restaurants in a Chinese Office Block
As previously mentioned Chinese KTV’s or karaoke bars can be dodgy, legit, or somewhere in the middle. I actually have one on either side of my office that I initially thought were dodgy. Now I just think they are almost like a secret nighttime speakeasy club. Quite often people are partying until 5-6 am, but they cause no trouble so I am chill.
One floor above me there is alas a bar that we actually went inside, but it is the classic Chinese type bar that I despise in that you have to buy 6 bad beers minimum to sit on a table and listen to shit music. They did though have the European Championships on during the summer, which was pretty cool.
We also discovered a few closed restaurants, but this could simply be because it is almost Chinese New Year and people reheating home for the holidays.
The Chinese Night Clubs
And where that not enough there are also two full on nightclubs within my Chinese Office Block with one “Live Bar” seemingly very popular, as well as occupying two floors of the block. This would be unheard of in the UK, but here it flies and also means that come 3-4 am the outside of the building is buzzing.
There is also another karaoke/pseudo club on the ground floor that once refused us entry because we were foreign. Yes you get that kind of racism in China. Apparently it was due to regulations, but I am not sure that I fully buy that. It does though look quite cool in there with guests singing to the crowd rather than going to private rooms.
Was there anything else weird?
There was a whole heap of other weird shit within the building, such as random gyms, photo studios and “political stuff”. Chief among these were a Chinese Communist Party office, as well as a whole floor for the police. Said police floor had numerous propaganda posters talking about anti-espionage and being careful of foreigners. Alas the glory days of being white in China are gone.
There was also a very interesting self-service “games room”. This technically had Chinese Chess and the like, but in actuality it was just a Majong gambling den. Of course it was not all that far form the police either…..
Chinese Businesses in the Chinese Office Block
And lastly, but not leastly there must have bene a lot of businesses right? Well yes there were with most being service type industries, rather than manufacturing. And these covered a real large swath of genres too, in fact too many to mention. You also had random incidents where companies would occupy multiple floors, such as one tea company. This meant that things were a lot cleaner when you had a big company there.
There were also companies that were frankly dodgy. We found alongside a bunch of travel agents that we had not heard of an airline that does not even exist on Google. Now, number one the block would be a strange place for an airline office, but were you a weird Chinese airline works with secret people it might be a greta place.
And the last weird business? Something called Red Star Pioneers located on the 13th floor of the building. Indeed unlucky for some…..
What is the working culture in a Chinese office block?
Most of the people working at our office block at least are for all intents and purposes office workers. This means 8-9 – 18.00+, this means that there are definitely busy periods when getting an elevator is a nightmare. This is particularly true at lunchtime, which is a huge deal in China, both for going out and deliveries coming in.
With there also being clubs, KTV’s restaurants and bars there are people working quite literally all of the time. And then there are people like me who live here. For the most part my office block is not residential, but it is not disallowed to stay here like it is in some buildings! Overall though it is very true that Chinese people do work extremely hard.
The Evolution of the Chinese Office Block
When you look at the 29 floors of this building it is clear that much like the Western by Shenzhen Railway Station it has seen better days. It did though remind of things such as hotels in Bangkok too that while not great now would have been amazing back one the day. I do not actually know, but I expect that this place is probably 20+ years old. Now why that might not sound old, in China that makes it pretty much ancient.
Therefore while it may have a limited lifespan for now, it is at least cheap and a whole heap of fun, which is exactly what I want from somewhere that I live and work.