To find a Chinese Meetup group in your area, type in your zip code on the far right of this page. If the results are overwhelming (Chinese includes a lot of dialects, after all!), then try starting at the page devoted strictly to, for example, Mandarin or Cantonese.

There are many Meetup opportunities for Chinese in New York, and other parts of the world as well. In early 2013 in Phoenix, for example, there was an Arizona Mandarin Meetup group with 196 members.

A cautionary note: I have occasionally come across Meetups for various languages that appear to be thinly veiled businesses taking money in exchange for language lessons. It is a violation of Meetup rules to use the site to promote commercial interests. Meetups are supposed to be community-based gatherings of people with like interests.

Fortunately, there are tons of people whose like interests are Chinese!