This As They Told It essay is based on a conversation with Nick Lappen, an American bartender and businessman based in China. His words have been edited for length and clarity.

I first visited China when I was 22 on a road trip from London to Mongolia, and the experience left a lasting impression on me.

A few years later, in 2015, I signed what I hoped would simply be a six-month contract as an educational consultant in a mountainous province in southwest China.

Rather, it changed the course of my career.

After briefly returning to the US, I realized I missed the Chinese lifestyle and returned. I didn’t want to teach full time anymore, so I started splitting my time between teaching and bartending. I also opened a seasonal rooftop bar with my then-girlfriend, which led to consulting work and helped me establish myself in the country’s growing hospitality scene.

I later moved to Shanghai to pursue bartending full time. But the pandemic forced me to return to Boston, where I honed my skills behind some of the city’s best bars and opened a small one specializing in baijiu, China’s traditional spirit, as a side project. It became a testing ground for the kind of bar he hoped to one day build in China.

Living in the United States confirmed again that China was where I wanted to be. I missed the comfort and general friendliness of the people there.

I also missed spending weekends at secluded reservoirs in the countryside, where locals from nearby towns shared the same love of water. We would jump off cliffs into pools, fish, paddle, swim and enjoy local delicacies together.

Life in southwest China is low-stress and I felt the pace and opportunities there better suited the future I wanted.

A new chapter in Chengdu

In 2023, he was back in China as chief lawyer at what is now the Upper House in Chengdu. But after almost two years, I felt ready to build something on my own.

The concept of Sugarcane Society, a rum bar, began by accident. Originally, my partners (a fellow American and a local Chinese friend I met in Chengdu) and I rented the space as a research and development site for our brand of liqueurs, bitters and sprays. But we had extra space and decided to transform it into a bar.

The total cost to start the Sugarcane Society was 60,000 Chinese yuan, or less than $10,000, including everything from the rental deposit and company registration to the equipment and renovations.

The bar has been open since October 2025 and specializes in classic tiki cocktails. It has been going well for us, but we are limited by space and can only accommodate 20 guests at a time.

One of the biggest challenges we face in Chengdu is visibility. The bar is not located in an area with a lot of pedestrian traffic. Most of our customers are rum enthusiasts or fellow bartenders who seek us out for our reputation for quality. Social media has been crucial to our marketing efforts, but building followers takes time and strategy.

What’s next?

Over the years, I have been presented with numerous opportunities to leave China, whether to work in the Middle East or back to the United States. However, each time I realized that I would be moving somewhere I didn’t want to live. Everyday experiences in China – the warmth of the people, the slower pace of life, and the constant learning – have only strengthened my desire to stay.

The notion that everything made in China is poor is a misconception that I want to dismantle.

The quality of spirits, wines and craft beers produced here rivals anything you can find in the West. For example, XiaoPu, a “nomadic” winery that sources high-quality grapes from Ningxia, Gansu, Sichuan and other wine regions in China, makes some of the most interesting natural wines on the market.

Breweries such as TripSmith in Guiyang and Wild West Brewing in Chengdu are also boosting the country’s craft beer scene.

I have come to appreciate local products, from clothing and technology to fresh produce. I use Xiaomi products like air purifiers, WiFi routers, fitness trackers, and even my cell phone in daily life, and Chinese clothing brands like Anta, Li-Ning, and Feiyue are affordable and high quality. My vision for the future includes displaying these types of products in my bars, further bridging the gap between East and West.

If the version of me who first landed in China could see my life now, I think she would be surprised at how much I have changed. Maybe that growth would have happened elsewhere as well, but it happened here.