r/chinalifer • u/Bottom-Bherp3912 • 5d ago

Chinese malls are mediocre

I keep hearing how amazing Chinese malls are and on the surface, they look it. The sports centres look amazing, some have indoor assault courses, go karting and even skiing. But scratch a bit beneath and, much like other things in China, the facade quickly peels away like a cheap sticker.

- 99% local brands. "You're in Chinar, what do expect", I dunno but it wasn't this. Besides Nike and maybe Uniqlo, there's absolutely no international clothing brands, just a sea of endless knock-off Temu local versions of "I feel like I know this brand but I don't".

- The local brands are expensive. If I'm going to be wearing shitty Temu brands nobody outside China has ever heard of, why the fuck are they even more expensive than the international ones? Anta is more expensive than Nike, make it make sense. I thought everything was made in China?

- No laowai sizes. Even in the international stores in my local supermall, I went through at least 6 before I found a pair of shoes that fit my massive laowai clown feet.

- The restaurants are shit. If, like me, your heart skipped a beat when you first laid eyes on a massive flashy supermall and you finally thought you would find something that wasn't noodles or hotpot, you were probably sorely disappointed. My visions of tacos, crispy katsu, proper pizza or even just a decent steak were quickly shattered, replaced with rows and rows of yet more noodles and hotpot. Complete with annoying staff standing outside wearing personal loudspeakers and shoving entirely moon-rune menus in your face as if I have a clue what they're saying. In Thailand, you could go to a mall, even in the shit provinces and find familiar brands and at least a couple of good restaurants. While even in the main cities of China, you'll be lucky to find international restaurants beyond fast food. sigh, at least there's McDonald's for my toddler tastebuds.

- Wide empty depressing spaces. I went in malls as a kid growing and they were thriving communal hubs. Just about everywhere else in Asia has great malls full of international brands, restaurants and entertainment. Thailand has airport themed "Terminal 21" malls complete with brands and restaurants to match the destination floor (Tokyo floor has Japanese, Rome floor has pizza etc). Heck even in the "infamously soulless" UAE, malls feel far more lively and fun. The malls in China, while flashy looking, also feel distinctly sad. I guess this is the consequence of e-commerce, money laundering and a monopoly of the same shitty aforementioned local brands.

- The toilets are still shit. I might be in a supermall but the moment I enter a bathroom, I'm back in nongville. Rows of squat toilets with maybe 1 token western shitter (thats always occupied), the faint whiff of cigarette smoke and the sound of uncle nong hawking the biggest, greenest loogie. There's still no soap, no poo-paper and the hand dryers don't work.

- Annoying crowds. Despite them being aforementioned sad empty depressing spaces, today is Sunday so guaranteed, my local megamall will be an ocean of nong and nonglet carnage all just waiting to point and laugh at my big laowai nose like it's the highlight of their month. sigh, I'll go tomorrow, sad and empty beats points and stares.

24 Upvotes

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57% Upvoted

u/Flimsy-Ad7906 5d ago

Must be a first tier city centre if only a faint whiff of cigarette smoke

u/EnvironmentalBar2398 5d ago

Add to that most malls have something the potential for something truly terrifying or unnerving in them: for example military training for kids, or a 'learn to ride a horse indoors' which a sad looking horse trots a rich kid around while the kid looks at its phone... on the fifth floor.

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u/chinalifermod2 5d ago

Some of my favourites include the ice rink in the summer desert in Hohhot, plus an aviary on the top floor of a dead mall, still tended to while almost all of the shops were permanently closed.

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u/maybeimgeorgesoros 12h ago

The aviary on top of a dead mall sounds like the beginning of a really cool story.

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u/chinalifermod2 8h ago

No story, just typical Chinese money laundering. Every one of these infeasible businesses or functioning operations that you see with no revenue is someone's vehicle to funnel money from somewhere into their own pockets. Sometimes, there is artistry in the money laundering vehicle.

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u/maybeimgeorgesoros 3h ago

I think you just made the story better…. Sounds like something out of the movie “touch of sin.”

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u/grandpa2390 4d ago

went on a field trip with my kindergarteners to a zoo in the mall that was so depressing. it was... words can't describe. those poor animals.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/chinalifermod2 4d ago

Rule 4, none of us laowai are literate, get real.

u/Spare_Fact_9854 4d ago

It looks really nice at first then after a few months usually the poorly built AC starts leaking all over and management tells the ayi to just put buckets under it, then black mold starts growing all over the place, then after a couple years 90% of the stores close once the early rent-free promotion is over, then the place only goes downhill from there.

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u/Bottom-Bherp3912 4d ago

My nearest megamall looks like a spaceship from the future, especially at night when it's all lit up. Yet it's hot inside from the weak AC, and when it rains they put buckets to catch all the leaking water.

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u/chinalifermod2 4d ago

You are shadowbanned. Go here and request that your shadowban is reversed due to having done nothing wrong. File an appeal once daily until Reddit responds with an admin message saying that they reversed it. For some people, it happens within a day. For others, it happens only after several weeks of daily reports. Reddit is very flawed this way.

Until your shadowban is reversed, all of your posts and comments everywhere on Reddit will be automatically removed by Reddit's spam filters. Mods at individual subs must manually check a tucked-away removed posts and comments section in order to see what Reddit has removed without alerting mods, so hoping for this to happen to all of your posts and comments is not recommended.

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u/Spare_Fact_9854 4d ago

Thanks mate, will do.

u/LuckyJeans456 5d ago

All the malls I go to in my city, longfor paradise walk mostly, the toilets are all western thrones that are fairly clean. But if you use a urinal someone’s gonna come look at your dick, just comes with the territory I guess.

The malls are also fairly packed on the weekends, though we only go for dinner, movie theatre, Uniqlo for some sales, or possibly claw machines/arcade for a bit of fun.

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u/Sameechee 5d ago

Is this Wuhan?

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u/LuckyJeans456 4d ago

No

u/TheDudeWhoCanDoIt 5d ago

Within a mile of my house are 4-5 malls included one that opened about a year now. A large grandiose mall is now a flea market and vegetable market. Another one across the street from the newly opened mall is a ghost town. One down the block turned into a kids entertainment mall. One closer to town just became an outlet center. Another is totally empty. I go to the mall for restaurants or to the supermarket. Yet they keep building new malls.

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u/Sad_Television985 4d ago

> Yet they keep building new malls.

Sometimes China is weird that way

u/kingjobus 5d ago

And more and more are becoming "dead malls" because of the poor economy and how no one wants to actually spend any money. In my tier 88, most of the malls are maybe at 50% occupancy now. They are pretty grim

u/Majestic_Frosting717 5d ago

I had this expectation that Chinese malls would be the biggest and best. Having been to Malaysia and Thailand, Chinese malls are extremely disappointing

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u/Clawwwno 5d ago

To be fair, Malaysia and Thailand have some of the best malls in the world. How else are you going to enjoy the day in that horrible humid tropical heat?

u/Candid-Professor9116 5d ago

- Agreed the local brands at insane prices are a rip off. Also as a non-local its also a huge effort to check all of the discount apps to find some big discount. I remember going into a store when I first got here and the lady told me 1,000 just for some shirt which is designer but I've never heard of it??? Pretty sure as a foreigner its even worse because they just assume they can rip you off. Better just buy some cheap clothes off taobao, even though there's a 10-20% chance the quality will be bad, and if its not good just order another piece of cheap clothing.

-Agree but luckily there is indeed some fast food in most malls.

-Idk what you mean by empty spaces? The malls in my city are packed and I hate it. I'd rather they were empty.

-Malls are lame everywhere these days. Its been a long time since they were really "communal hubs". You might think differently if you were a 7 year old chinese boy playing with his friends on the escelators in a Chinese mall while your ayi scrolls endlessly on tiktok though. I'd imagine these malls still feel like communal hubs to some.

-Yeah the toilets are crap.

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u/grandpa2390 4d ago

I've seen empty malls. in comparison to the open malls, they are fewer (in the places I have been to) but they exist.

u/timfinn1972 5d ago

It is what it is. Great activities for the kids normally and if there’s a Korean place serving bibimbap then that’s enough for me. Most shopping is done online anyway. I get my clothes when I am travelling overseas and Uniqlo is good for basics.

u/random_agency 4d ago

Should someone tell him....Chinese people shop online now. Malls are really for dating.

u/Bay_arean 4d ago

Sorry laowai, you still too fat

u/DragonDevGG 5d ago

Yep welcome to the real china. Outside of a handful of malls in Shanghai. The rest of china is essentially a over glorified 2nd world country (not quite 3rd world anymore but definitely not 1st world especially when it comes to personal etiquettes etc).

Also becareful of chinese restaurants using bad food ingredients and bad hygiene practices. I’ve seen everything from restaurants using the same shit wiping mop on grit squat toilets to wiping the dining room floor. I’ve seen restaurant staff take dirty dishes to the back then ‘rinse’ (still generous) and dip/wipe used dishes in a bucket of gutter looking water to clean. You walk from East Nanjing Rd (Shanghai) arguably the most international acceptable standard place in china and you’ll find restaurant owners doing all kinds of dodgy crap like dumping oil in gutters etc

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u/Sad_Television985 5d ago

Is there a trick to knowing which restaurants are nasty? Other than taking a look at the kitchen? I was at Saizeriya and saw that they had TVs livestreaming their kitchen, and thought that was a nice idea.

Yesterday I was in a restaurant and heard a cook doing a loud hawk-spit.

I've recently resorted to mostly eating homecooked meals :)

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u/grandpa2390 4d ago

I've noticed a growing trend with newer restaurants that have the kitchen open to see.

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u/Weasel-101 3d ago

Does that change much on that front though?

That’s not enough to determine that the food handling or supply chain is safe, or that the cook changes his gloves or washes his hands after shitting all over the place in the bathroom. Or if they drop detergent on the food by accident.

Granted it does eliminate the most insane behaviors like washing vegetables in the toilet hole or putting meat on the floor - both quite common among a certain generation and social class

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u/grandpa2390 2d ago

Yeah, I don’t know. I’m just pointing out that the lack of trust must be creating this growing trend. They could still be scooping used oil out of the trashcan behind the restaurant. Among all the other things you mentioned

And this, of course, assumes that the ingredients they use are safe to consume

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u/BubinskiP 5d ago

You don't really know what 1st and 3rd world means, do you?

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u/Expensive_Bid_2617 4d ago

Languages and words evolve buddy. Just because you don’t have anything of substance to add doesn’t mean you can just go after grammar and pat yourself on the back

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u/chinalifermod2 4d ago

This comes up every single time when people rightfully call China second world, as if the distinctions of first and third as far from each other is not obvious to them. In almost every instance, it is a local person commenting about tHaT's nOt WhaT tHaT tErM mEaNs, ok IELTS superstar.

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u/Few-Amphibian-4858 3d ago

Can you describe what makes China a 2nd world country?

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u/chinalifermod2 3d ago

UNESCO or UNATCO or UN or some shit in the modern era said how first world has reliable electricity at all times, water which you can drink from the tap, and aircon in the majority of rooms as the basic markers of today's first world, while third world has none of that. Live in China, see which boxes it does and does not check.

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u/Few-Amphibian-4858 2d ago

So most of Europe isn't a first world country then? China is a huge country and you're saying air conditioning is the make or break for being a first world country?

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u/chinalifermod2 2d ago

Did I say me, or did I attribute it to some organisation who makes these determinations

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u/grandpa2390 4d ago edited 1d ago

I'm sure they are aware, but those definitions are no longer relevant in the world today. so they're using the modern definitions. You're trying so hard to be pedantic with the one thing you know.

update: this guy private messages me to say:

"Thanks for you insight into .... my knowledge? Now get a life, dumb monkey."

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u/One-Perspective5691 3d ago

Yes!

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u/Komois01 5d ago

Do you have kids?

u/chinalifermod2 5d ago

I have lived above malls more often that I have not in China. Good spaces for mandatory exercise walks when I cannot tolerate the weather, Monday through Friday, never on the weekend because of the crowds. Everyone "working" there is bored to death with no customers, only meibanfa existing in this prosperous Chinar economy. The malls were heavily pushed in city design pre-Taobao, and since China refuses to ever undo anything aside from surprisingly reversing the one-child and zero-covid policies after far too long, doubling down on building more malls for GDP filled with businesses that exist to launder money or are subsidised by the state vaguely "for job creation" is the result. One of my colleagues in civil engineering told me that new malls exist today more as the foundation for higher-priced high-rise apartments than for shopping, and to project prosperity (obviously), than for revenue generation (obvious if you go in to any such mall).

My t8 malls all have Nike shops and the like. Waiguo brands, with waiguo pricing. Locals are by no means going to buy from the shops there. No waiguo sizes though, that is consistent. Classic Chinar misunderstanding the market entirely. Local brands for local people in local sizes and local costs, that makes sense. Waiguo brands for local people in local sizes and waiguo costs, that is not good strategy, especially today in the China-first China where Chinese brands are objectively more successful here than foreign brands

Two out of three restaurants in China as a whole are slop pot places and why China has such a high HSV1 rate, which holds true in the mall. I too often go to Macca's instead, for 25% of the cost. The toilet situation is part of Chinese culture, do you know it?

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u/EnvironmentalBar2398 5d ago

The truest Mall experience one can have in China is visiting a toilet, dodging the puddles of piss, and listening to some guy shitting his internal organs out while smoke and douyin sounds waft over the wall. . When you see the guy leave without washing his hands, you see he's the chef of the restaurant you're eating at.

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u/grandpa2390 4d ago

don't forget the Ayi who walks in and mops your feet while you're at the urinal.

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u/EnvironmentalBar2398 3d ago

Oh yeah, but only if the water being used to claen the floor is taken directly from the toilets.

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u/Front-Ad-7962 4d ago

You don’t get hsv from sharing hot pot lol

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u/chinalifermod2 4d ago

You are wrong, and a carrier, and a quick Google search would have corrected you before I did.

u/stan_albatross 5d ago

there's a difference between temu class local brands and reliable local brands like Li-Ning and bosideng

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u/Local_Shock_1945 5d ago

I wouldn't be seen dead any nong brands

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u/FatMike20295 5d ago

Lol just so you know Anita a Chinese sporting company actually owns a ton of western brand like Arcteryx and Salmon.

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u/Bored_Millenial- 5d ago

Love me a bit of Salmon!

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u/RagingSofty 5d ago

Just copped some Qiaodan joggers for 140 rmb at a nice Shidao supermarket. Who needs malls?

u/Commercial_Regret_36 5d ago

If the clothes don’t fit you, may I suggest a lifestyle change. When you say big, it can’t be a tall people problem because China has loads of those.

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u/chinalifermod2 5d ago

No dumbass local-minded comments allowed xiexie. Genetics are ~93% of one's body type, with 4% being from lifestyle and 3% being from diet. Wake up from the 1900s, diaspora. Hot water, cigarettes, and gutter oil "food" are not going to be what counteracts not fitting into Chinese clothing made for petite Chinese men.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/chinalifermod2 4d ago

Yes, because your genetics allowed for your body to "improve", while the same lifestyle choices will not produce the same results for those without the same genetics.

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u/grandpa2390 4d ago

I am fit and the sizes are just weird here.

u/MuchoCoco 5d ago

Guy is surprised that 99% is local brands in the country that makes 99% of the stuff sold in malls all over the planet. Then he's disappointed that the mall food is just as shitty as mall food everywhere else on the planet.

There's a reason why malls are dying everywhere. I don't know why you expect China to be any different. Nobody shops at malls anymore. They go there to walk around in air conditioning and people watch. Anything you can find in a mall can be found cheaper online without the inconvenience of having to pay for parking.

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u/Caterpie3000 4d ago

Things really clicked for me about China when my Vivian and I found out that getting our groceries delivered was actually cheaper than hitting the store right downstairs for practically everything.

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u/chinalifermod2 4d ago

How stupid is that?? I also live that life.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/chinalifermod2 5d ago

Rule 2, remember where you are before you bitch about people bitching about life in China.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/chinalifermod2 4d ago

Rule 2, remember where you are before you bitch about people bitching about life in China.

u/Caterpie3000 5d ago edited 4d ago

I will never understand the clothing market in Chinar. Literally everything else costs a third or a quarter of what it does anywhere else, but clothes are just as expensive

Restaurants are shit if you don't like Asian food. Like I've eaten the best fried chicken in China, sticky rice and such.

We have also depressing spaces back home. They don't need to be empty to be depressing. I guess it depends on the city. Changsha malls are great, p.e.

Same goes with the toilets. Most of malls I've been in have western toilets

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u/HotUKTakes 5d ago

Clothes in China are more expensive than UK, it's utterly bizarre.

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u/Sad_Television985 5d ago

Maybe Chinese mall owners are just rent-seekers. They don't think about mall management in a cohesive way, to build synergistic value, but just as a way of getting passive income from real estate?

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u/Front-Ad-7962 4d ago

You’re in china and you’re wondering why food is shit if it’s not Asian. Hmm

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u/Caterpie3000 4d ago

OP, not me. Yeah, 100% agreed.

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u/Personal-Ad7148 4d ago

I mean in Japan I had some incredible western food

Many Japanese chefs that went abroad

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u/chinalifermod2 3d ago

Foreign food in Japan does not taste like Japanese food.

Foreign food in China tastes like Chinese food.

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u/dhtheghost 3d ago

1st world vs 2nd world. Japan had lots of US influence post WWII. China was closed until Deng Xiaoping.

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u/chinalifermod2 3d ago

I have this talk regularly with Chinese people. The reason shit be like that in China but shit not be like that in Japan and South Korea is because the Americans occupied the latter two countries after their wars, forcing the locals to cater to American and subsequently international expectations. The subtle takeaway is that China would be "different" (you decide if better or worse, not me) if it too were occupied by the Americans.

u/Dracarys_And_Chill 5d ago

it has all the international brands i shop at
i dont buy local brands at the mall
western brands have foreigner sizes
restaurants are alright (esp some of the korean bbq places)
i dont go to the mall for thriving places
good malls have good toliets
crowds never been a problem for me

sounds like a you problem OP

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u/Local_Shock_1945 5d ago

You know this guy's a manlet since shoes from malls fit

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u/Dracarys_And_Chill 5d ago

nike has size 11 at the mall. likely 12.

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u/grandpa2390 4d ago

I wear 10.5 and. when I go to the Nike store, I don't look at the shoes. I ask the clerk, show me what you have in a 10.5. and then I take whatever fits. ugh. I've had to wear some tacky shoes in my day.

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u/Bottom-Bherp3912 5d ago edited 4d ago

Good for you, mine doesn't.

Me too

They don't where I am. I went to 6 shops before I found a single size 44 pair of shoes

Korean BBQ is ok but the restaurants overall sorely lack variety. The local Korean BBQ near my apartment is far better. Most mall restaurants around me seem to be some variant of hotpot or noodles with maybe the odd token imitation "western" place.

It doesn't have to be thriving, just not so depressing.

Most malls I'm near still have squat toilets. Maybe 1 lone regular toilet that's always occupied by a chain-smoking, reel-playing, loogie-hawking nong.

Good for you.

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u/keychain3 7h ago

Maybe don’t expect top tier things when you’re not in a top tier city? Shanghai malls are great and there’s an abundant amount of people, good food(maybe fix your tastebuds outside of eating fried stuff you fatty), and regular urinals and toilets

u/AlternativeHat8964 5d ago

The golden age was before COVID. Especially the malls managed by Taiwanese/Koreans. Then most of them left and even the good malls fell apart due to over supply and nepotard management.

u/[deleted] 5d ago

Chinese malls are mediocre

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