This message rolled into my Gmail inbox last night:

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 18:06:30 +0800
From: happyout
To: msittig
Subject: 12.31

3月18日固定周日杀人游戏\斗地主\UNO牌+驴们一起动手丰衣足食自煮聚餐

每周日开始时间14：00左右，17：00开始驴们动手分做菜做饭，分享驴们动手做的饭菜。24：00结束（早点回有休息）

地址：上海徐家汇漕溪北路28号（虹桥路18弄）实业公寓16楼B座（东方商厦后面，港汇广场马路对面徐家汇中学旁边）
http://www.happyout.com.cn/read.php?tid=7444
会所照片http://www.happyout.com.cn/read.php?tid=7455

费用:
（1）杀人游戏：10RMB/人 （2）聚餐：30元左右/人（其中包括10元场地、水、电、煤气、配料等分摊费用）
黑皮驴舍实行自助形式茶水免费提供自己动手,喝茶杯子自己拿

交通：
（1）地铁徐家汇8号和11号出口三分钟就到（东方商厦后面，港汇广场马路对面徐家汇中学旁边）
（2）汽车入口在港汇广场对面虹桥路有一个入口，在漕溪北路东方商厦的招商银行旁边也有一个汽车入口。停车物业收费10元/次，停车场地不多。

What is it? Where did they get my e-mail address? Browsing their website, it becomes clear that it's a club for people who like to travel/hike and have parties. They have backpacks, tents, sleeping bags for rent. They plan trips together. And like the above e-mail advertises they have parties at their "home base", an apartment in Xujiahui. This party is an Assassins/UNO party. For a small door fee you can join the party, and pay a bit more for snacks. The rest of the e-mail goes on to explain the rules of UNO, as this is a relatively new game; as opposed to Assassins, which thanks to English teachers all over China enjoys a long and prosperous history in this country.

Again, how'd they get my e-mail? In general, these kinds of club are characterized in the media as "white-collar clubs" for young people with discretionary income, and not enough downtime or cultural training to casually meet potential spouses. The above e-mail announces that parking is limited; only white-collar workers would have their own cars. These people also spend a lot of time in front of computers at work, so they tend to browse the BBSs. I'm pretty sure they dug through the profiles of one BBS or another and picked out my Gmail address.

I'm not going to attend.