(Chinese Bargains)
To continue my accounts of last weekend’s excursion to Beijing, today I’m going to write about our trip to The Silk Market. After spending a few hours at the Great Wall, John the driver drove us by the 2008 Olympic sites - the bird’s nest, the Olympic pool and the Dragon Hotel. I’ve included pictures in this email. He then brought us to The Silk Market - by its name you’d expect this market to sell silk alone, but it actually sells everything under the sun: knock-off clothing, electronics, silk, pearls, jewelry, skin products (though, most of these were for “whitening” or contained the word “placenta” in their names…), luggage, etc… At this point, we were so exhausted from our whirl-wind tour of Beijing that we really weren’t in the mood to shop, but we were determined to get some bargains.
The beauty of a Chinese market lies in the customer’s power over the price of the product. Nothing has price tags because cost changes constantly - depending on who is asking. Of course, for foreigners, high prices are asked. The way to respond to this is by looking absolutely shocked, say “that’s far too expensive,” drop the item and then start walking along to the next stall. The shopkeeper will call another price after you and then you can continue to bargain them down. Another strategy is to quote something absurdly low as the “only” price that you’d pay and see where that takes you. Here‘s an example:
Laura - How much is this? (holding a beautiful pashmina scarf)
Shopkeeper - 100 yuan (about $20 CDN)
Laura - That’s ridiculous (starts to walk away)
Shopkeeper - Okay, okay. You name your best price, no joking (hands me the calculator - for some reason each shopkeeper would use this line, “no joking”)
Laura - 10 yuan, that’s the most I’ll pay
Shopkeeper - no, no, no. This one best quality, 100%
Laura - I’ve seen better. The shop down there said they’d sell for 7 yuan
Shopkeeper - Okay, I give you best price, no joking (types 60 yuan into the calculator)
Laura - (starts walking away)
Shopkeeper - Okay, final price - special for you beautiful lady today only (types 45)
Laura - (pulls 25 yuan out of wallet) I’ll give you 25 yuan, nothing more.
Shopkeeper - no you joking, best quality
Laura - (walks away to the next shop)
Shopkeeper - (yells after) Okay, okay. 25 yuan, you good bargain.
Because it’s low season, the shopkeepers are very desperate to make sales. It’s not that fun to be a customer in the market, unless you’re really in the mood for it. I tried on two shirts in one shop and then decided I didn’t want to purchase anything. I was walking away when the shopkeeper grabbed my wrists tightly and said, “NO! You try on two things, you must buy now. You waste my time!” I tried pulling away, but she wouldn’t let go! I started looking around for security, but of course there was none. Jhania came storming over and pried the girl’s hands from my wrists and gave her hand a little smack before we hurried away. It was very overwhelming. The shopkeepers also grew quite grumpy as the hours drew on. One girl welcomed our friend Lynn with “Oh, hello beautiful lady! What do you like to buy?” and when Lynn walked away without purchasing anything the girl called after her, “I said you beautiful! I lie! You ugly, very ugly!”
They must be so used to ignorant and rude foreigners at these markets in Beijing, I can’t really blame them for the way they acted towards us. After all, we are buying these really great products for ridiculously cheap prices!
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