Club: Elements

Clubs around Gongti usually follow a similar template: small dance floor, bad sound system; worse music, dice, and Chivas. Yet Elements was a pleasant surprise. Not only was there no aggression, but it was buzzing inside. The glass-fronted entrance may not entice, but it soon gives way to a steep staircase and lobby that mimic the ziggurat aesthetic pioneered by Song (now Spark). It’s gratis for ladies and 100 RMB for chaps, including two ‘free’ drinks (gin and tonic; rum and coke, etc.).

Once inside Element's cavernous basement space, well, that’s where the action begins, with a large international crowd getting messy with 50 RMB cocktails. Yet while we’re literally underground, the soundtrack certainly isn’t, featuring generic beats and the likes of Bon Jovi and Carly Rae Jepsen twisted into dance tracks. Things that didn’t happen: fighting; unreasonable bouncers; fast service; innovative or inspiring music. People often free-pour spirits into their friends’ mouths straight from the bottle, and there are many excitable partygoers, young, dumb, and full of fun.