I asked the same question when I was in the US: why is it so hard to make friends here in the US? I'm Chinese, I consider myself as a friendly, open-minded person, I have many really good friends, I mean REAL friends, in China, but why is it so hard for me to make that kind of real friends in the US? I think this is a common problem for expats all over the world, not just expats in China. You are moving to a place where people speak different language, have different culture. They might even have a different view of friendship or how to make friends. I stayed in the US for three years, but my best friends there are all east asian immigrants, because we have something in common, we share some value. If you feel it is difficult to make friends with locals here in Shenzhen, my suggestion is to learn Mandarin, get to know the Chinese culture. I mean, you are already here, right? Why not learn something new and have fun. Maybe you will meet some people who pretend that they want to make friends with you, but really just want to learn English or dig for some money making opportunity, but come on, how bad is that? I even got called Chinaman once in Washington metro. There are stupid boring people everywhere in the world, just ignore them, don't let their stupidity ruin your day! What I wanna say is that Shenzhen is a nice city with 10 million people, you will find some nice interesting people to make friends with. I like this city, and good luck!