January 5

Image: Chad Chamara

A bar in Guangzhou’s Liede area has been forced to remove a sign from its front entranceway that stated foreigners were not welcome on the premises.  

According to a source familiar with the situation, local authorities visited Mr. Pilot – an aviation-themed bar on popular party street Xingsheng Lu – today and asked staff to remove the sign, which read ‘Decline foreigners’ in English. The notice additionally stated ‘[We] politely refuse foreigners from entering’ in traditional Chinese characters.

Image: Chad Chamara

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Photos shared with That’s this afternoon show that the text banning foreigners from the bar has been removed from the doors. Text reading ‘No drugs’ in English, and ‘Strictly prohibit sex, gambling and drugs, violators will be dealt with by law’ in Chinese, remains on the entranceway (which is actually sound advice, if you ask us).

Image: Chad Chamara

The sign was originally brought to our attention roughly a week ago. Looking to investigate further, we reached out to Mr. Pilot last week for comment and were told by an employee that “foreign customers are not banned.” When pressed about the sign that was, until today, clearly located on the establishment’s main entrance, the staffer told us that the bar and restaurant does not want foreign customers late at night.

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The sign did not go unnoticed by foreigners living near Mr. Pilot, and a number of expats took to social media to voice their issues with the alleged ban on non-Chinese customers.

“I called the government service hotline to complain about the sign, not because I felt discriminated against personally as a foreigner, but because I felt it damages Guangzhou’s image as an open and inclusive city,” one concerned Xingsheng Lu resident recently told That’s. “The person who took my complaint was very helpful and understanding.”

Image: Chad Chamara

Well, it looks like foreigners can now freely visit Mr. Pilot any time during the bar’s hours of operation (if any of them still want to visit after this fiasco).

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