Guten tag on Dongcang Strasse

Little culture shock as homely street provides comfort to german workers

Walk down Dongcang South Road in central Taicang and there's a good chance you'll bump into as many Germans as Chinese. The street itself has a distinct German character, with the redbrick architecture and wooden benches outside many of the restaurants and bars.

Inside, you're more likely to get a "Guten tag" than a "Ni hao" from the service staff, and find a Bundesliga match playing on the big screen.

After a day's work, Christoph Kochert loves to unwind at his favorite spot on the road, Roy's Place, and wash down some bratwurst with a half stein of Paulaner beer.

As a leading technologist with the Dresden-based vacuum coating system provider Von Ardenne, Kochert travels frequently to Taicang. He stays for about two weeks each time to help his customers install the system. Last year, he visited Taicang four times and expects to be busier this year.

For Kochert, Taicang is an ideal destination. With a population of less than half a million, the county-level city by the south bank of the Yangtse is small by Chinese standards and more in keeping with European ones.

It has been "adapted to the lifestyle of Germans", Kochert says, and feels more like home. But if you want somewhere less quiet and more hectic, Shanghai is close by.

Roy's Place was the first restaurant on Dongcang South Road to serve German food.

"Now, not only Germans love our restaurant, but local Chinese have become used to the lifestyle," says Bie, the manager. "They would prefer to spend their happy hour at our place, sitting outdoors and enjoying German beer."

Next to Roy's is No 18 Restaurant, which serves Thai and Western food. It was the first restaurant to open on Dongcang South Road in 2007. It now has another restaurant in Taicang and one in the neighboring city of Changshu.

"Most of our business is from repeat customers," says Zhu Xiaodong, general manager at No.18. "There are also quite a few Germans who rush to our restaurant once they arrive at Taicang."

Zhu used to run a restaurant in Suzhou, but business was poor. He moved to Taicang six years ago, and rented the restaurant site for 40,000 yuan ($6,530; 4,900 euros) a year in the hope that it would become popular with the local German business community.

It was a good move, and although the rent has doubled, Zhu now owns two apartments and two cars, and is there to stay.

shijing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/16/2013 page16)