'Crazy laowai' do business and have fun in China (2)

For Dragon Events founders Hoopes and Woods, one of the perks of their company is creating these mingling opportunities.

"It's really great to be part of the creation of a positive thing that's brought together good people and that's based around sharing ideas," says Woods.

"We have people now who met their best friends at our events," Hoopes adds. "We know people who met at pub crawls, started dating and have moved back home together. Just wait, the pub crawl marriage is coming."

Hoopes and Woods both earned MBA at the University of South Caroline and visited China in 2009 in the business school's annual China trip. A week in Shanghai inspired them to convince their professor to allow them to complete most of their remaining credits through an independent project - starting their own business in China. They succeeded.

"Neither of us spoke Mandarin, had any Chinese experience or worked in events before," Hoopes says. "And back then people were really skeptical too about the idea of a pub crawl in China."

Their first pub crawl in April 2010, just two months after they arrived, was a huge success. Hundreds of people showed up for a tour of watering holes. The next week brought a sobering reality.

"The first one was absolutely massive and the second one had like two people," Hoopes says.

"We fell so hard," Woods adds, "but we learned that you can't put too much faith in those opening events."

Undeterred, the two continued holding weekly pub crawls - less expensive than a private night on the town - and popularity grew through word of mouth.

Garcia, the Santa, attended his first pub crawl two and a half years ago. "It was pretty small at the beginning but enabled all of us to get to know each other. I'm still friends with people I met at that crawl."

Today, the thrice-weekly pub crawls attract an eclectic mix of students, tourists, locals and laowai from around the world, united in the goal of meeting new people and exploring Shanghai and its lively bar scene.

One time, several Irishmen, who had been on a Shanghai pub crawl, were traveling in Mongolia where they met a fellow from Texas told him that he just had to go pub crawling when he got to Shanghai. And he did.

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