Astute Shanghai businessman by day, ambitious party-pioneer by night, Dragon Chiang is the Pearl City’s answer to Gotham City’s Bruce Wayne. Chiang is the vice-chairman of Yahe Investment and Management Co., a Shanghai-based property and development company, and his latest venture happens to be one of Shanghai’s largest clubs. While the opening of his Obama Club made international headlines for its stately name, the club is on the minds of city club-goers for other reasons. Obama Club has a 2,000 person capacity, boasts multiple VIP lounges and a schedule of international DJs. TALK asks Chiang about his transition to the nightclub business, the dynamic of the sprawling club and how he’d whet President Obama’s whistle.

How did you get into the night club business?

It never crossed my mind before to start a night club business. I never wanted to and never thought of it. It happened by accident – life is full of surprises. Sometimes we make decisions that we thought we could never make.

What inspired you to build this massive club in the middle of Hongqiao?
We opened the club right before the World Expo. The Expo’s a massive project and also an international one and we decided to build the club in order to support the city government’s policy for the World Expo. That way, we could have a club represent the Shanghai nightlife scene very well and keep up with the ideal of the Expo. Better city, better life.

How would you describe Shanghai’s nightlife and the niche Obama Club fills?
People in Shanghai are always looking for fresh and new stuff. New clubs open almost every day, and more foreigners keep coming to our international city, which makes Shanghai more versatile. Our aim is to be an international venue and bring new things. We aim to have a real life show club in Shanghai, which will encourage people to express and show themselves. We have so many possibilities with the club and we want to bring as much change as possible, very soon we will start live shows, concerts, multiple and various artists’ shows.
Our main aim is to be an international club in Shanghai, a place where people from all around the world enjoy their time and witness amazing and spectacular shows.

Why did you decide to name your club after the American President?
We get this question all the time. There are three main reasons for us choosing the name “Obama” for the club. The first reason is that the name is very easy to remember, both for Chinese and foreigners. Everyone knows Obama or has at least heard of him. The second reason is that the name is very easy to pronounce. It has three syllables, O- Ba-Ma. Everyone is able to pronounce the name of the club and that is a very good thing for promotion. The third reason is that it's a name with controversy. We had so many articles commenting about the name of the club, some of them approved it and even liked it, some disapproved it, but in the end it is all good since they are talking about the club. Controversy, that is the word.

If President Obama came to your club, what do you think would be his drink of choice?
If president Obama came to the club, we would arrange a very special mix just for him. We would call it the ‘Obama Republic’ cocktail.

What's your favourite part of the club?
I like all the parts of the club, but if I had to choose I would say that my favourite part is the DJ booth and the main entrance with the dragon flying. I find it very pretty and interesting.

What's the most important key to making a club successful?
Lots of things are important to make a club successful, but the most important thing is people. Only people can make a club successful. And when I say people, I’m talking about people working in the club, but also the customers. The customers are very important to lead a club into success.

What's the best part about being the owner of the city's largest nightclub?
It is hard to say which part is the best – I can only tell you that somehow there is no one best part. I just enjoy it every day.