Not at all, my wife always gets on well with my western friends. Equally I have always made a point of being friendly towards her friends, even though my level of language ability is terrible. It does help that our closest circle of friends are all westerners with Chinese wives so I guess there is something there for everyone.

Not at all... I am married to a Chinese woman, and we both get along and interact with all our friends, no matter Chinese or lao wai. However, we all have a tendency towards shyness when we do not understand much of the other language. It is normal.

We have a lot of mixed friends in Australia however in China I would have to agree that my wife would rather hang with her group than mix with Foreigners unless it is to help with one of her friends  but that is the Hand I was dealt                  Great question

yes she does

You can take the man out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the man.  At least not without surgery.  I think the "us vs. them mentality" mentality is so prevalent here it's to be expected to some extent but...  Moonlake has your partner spent much/any time abroad?  Maybe it's a new experience which makes him feel awkward and he needs more practice with strange foreign types .  

That's how patriarchal societies work, the woman has to accept the culture of the man. As far as I understood you both live in China. Are you planning to have children in China? Are you planning to send future children to Chinese schools?

Back on topic. I guess your husband thinks that you two should hang out with laowai, but your clique, your closest circle should be Chinese. The only way you can force him to accept your culture and to feel closer to non-Chinese people is to take him to your country even for a short-term stay.

Yes, she had a Collie, my best friend in China.