Everyone is drinking tea, coffee and eating cake China. I think the first question you must ask yourself, Is it a very good location? How many competitors you have to compete in that location? It's best for you to finding a Chinese partner to invest.

What's the laowai population like? You may need some regular expats to get your through tough times, etc.

Open a cafe can be a great idea but everything will depends of many things such like investment, location and concept.

A concept can work very well in Beijing for example but may be fail in xiamen. Chinese customers are very different city to city.

You should analyze and make a business plan with a concept , strategy and cost.

You need Chinese customers to make money. A joint venture with a local may be easier but they will try to dump you if the business is successful. Be certain to include bribe money (gifts) when you calculate initial and ongoing expenses. 

Edit: Wait this question is 37 weeks old! 

the competition can be expected be huge, and you are looking at at least a million RMB.....People get tired of things fast in China, so it is hard to keep returning customers. The regulatory stuffs can be potential (financial) risks, which you might be inability to handle if you neither have the experience of running a cafe, or running any biz in China.

The answer can go on and on, so in short, tangible biz for a expat in China not a good idea.

A million Rmb to open a cafe in China?.  What size, like Tianamen Square?.  Locally there are a few Ex-Pats who own and operate cafes and or restaurant/bars. 

Their range of investments were from 75K to 300K from scratch to business going succesfully.  Their size is not huge, but sufficient for their needs.  And they are making a monthly net profit on the 20K range. 

A chinese partner ?  For what ?  If you do, he will need to own 51 % of business, and be your boss, it will never be your business, nor you will be free to do as you think is right.

" so in short, tangible biz for a expat in China not a good idea ".  This is one of the most ridiculous statements I have read here in a long time.  I do know many Ex-Pats who fully own their businesses in China.  From language schools, to restaurants, bars, cafes, stores, etc. Some has failed because they did not pay enough attention to their business, or went crazy with profits and overspent unwisely.  Mostly booze and broads....

But a lot do take care of their gold mines, and are quite succcesfully and well off as a result.