Markets and Media in 21st Century China

One of the last days in Beijing we were taken to one of the famous shopping places. Because Caroline and I had no money and were actually in debt, we had to hit up the Bank of China to get some yuan. This took about 45 minutes and then we were off.

Most of the vendors are aggressive, to say the least. They have no problem grabbing your arm and pulling you into the store. The first thing I looked at was a shirt. Of course, the girl started her price ridiculously high and I claimed that I would only pay for a very small price. Then the bargaining began. Her price was still too high for what I was willing to buy. Therefore, I told her I didn't want it and walked away. This was when she started accusing me of being ugly and stupid. She also said Caroline was too good for me and should be with someone more handsome. I replied back that she wasn't a good salesperson.

One of the more memorable shopping experiences happened when I was looking at a coat. About four girls worked at this place. I had tried it on and decided on a price. I pulled out 100 yuan from my pocket and paid. One girl, seeing where my money came from, decided to try to go into my pocket to go after more money. I grabbed her arms and we started to sort of wrestle. She wouldn't stop so I decided to pick her up from her legs. I lifted her about six inches off the ground until I knew that I had scared her. I put her down and she proceeded to sit on the ground, happy to be grounded. Need I say she didn't try to go after my money again.

Hair is rare in China. My arms have been rubbed at least six times in China, by people in awe of how hairy my arms are. Yesterday, my beard was rubbed by one of the vendors. (So was Caroline's.) We tried to rub the vendor's face back, but she wouldn't let us. One time, one of the men who rode me around in a cart, wanted to compare arms, legs, and chest. It was very entertaining for both of us.

-Bryce Foster

Posted by China Traveller at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bargaining. That is one of the things that I will miss the most about China. It is exhausting, yet very invigorating to bargain someone down to 2 American dollars for a t-shirt. Yesterday was our big day to show off our bargaining skills. The bus dropped us off yesterday afternoon at the Pearl and Silk Market which is conveniently located a few blocks away from our hotel. This place is ridiculously overwhelming. There is floor after floor of anything you can possibly imagine. Pearls. Silk. Chopsticks. Paintings. North Face. Polo. Suitcases. Purses. Jewelry. You name it and you can probably find it there. I set out for the essentials...pearls and silk. Amanda and I finally found the pearl section. Amazing. We finally found a booth that we were pleased with. We ended up buying ten strands of pearl necklaces with matching dangle earrings and we paid a GREAT price for them. It turned out to be about $6 a set. And the best part was that Rose, the shop owner, made them while I waited. Yes, it did take up a half hour of my time, but she was great to talk to. I met all of her friends in the surrounding booths that were very envious of our large purchase from her and then I ended up meeting her boyfriend of 5 years. After the half hour I would say that we are friends...quite close friends. Since I was such great company, she gave me two free pairs of studded pearl earrings and her email address so that we can keep in touch. So in the end I not only got a TON of pearls, but I made a very nice friend. All in all it was a TERRIFIC afternoon of bargaining and friend making.

I truly will miss this place. I can't believe we leave to go back to the States this time tomorrow. Five whole weeks have passed in what seems like only a few days. We have travelled so much and met so many great people that it will be very tough to leave behind. For me, this won't be my last time in China.

Till then,
Melissa Ginder

Posted by China Traveller at 6:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As we ventured down Nanjing Road we were a little hesitant to follow any of the salesmen down side streets. But our curiosity couldn't be contained too long as a group of us decided to check out these watches, DVDs and bags that were being offered. We walked away after doing the quick math of yuan to dollars and deciding it wasn't worth it. The salesman saw the size of our wallets so he held his steep price, deducing that the Americans had money to spend -- a fair assumption to make. He was even willing to take our passports in exchange for his bags but we figured that would pose a number of problems later on in the trip. He chased us down after we left the store and finally drove down the price. Us Americans drive a hard bargain.
- Sarah McCarville

Posted by China Traveller at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Given that most of us don't know Chinese very well, one of the funniest experiences of our trip so far has been adjusting to the huge language barrier.

While our one-hour Chinese classes every morning have lessened our struggles, we continue to have some problems with shopping/traveling/eating to name a few:

Just yesterday we went shopping on the Bund in search of some quality fake Gucci/Chanel/Prada etc. merchandise. Though most Chinese can speak at least a little English, it was still difficult to convey what prices we were willing to pay. 600 yuan! No, 50 yuan (my starting price under $10). The haggling went on, quite hilariously as we each attempted for complete understanding.

Traveling brought on similar issues. Our first experience with purchasing subway tickets left us baffled as we tried to navigate the characters on the screen. Luckily we figured out that there was an English button and the language barrier was gone (for the moment).

Finally, our eating experiences have undoubtedly been the most frustrating, though entertaining. At the Hibachi restaurant we went to last night, we spent quite a bit of time trying to communicate that we did not want the tongue dish, or other items, and would stick with the noodles instead.

With that said, overcoming the language barriers is all a part of our Chinese experience.

Caroline Davis

Posted by China Traveller at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday we went to the grocery store, Trust Mart. For about $15 we got an adapter, water, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, silly Chinese condoms and weird gum. Things here are insanely cheap, lunch usually costs about 10 yuan, or like $1.50, for a some meat and vegetable dish, rice and there's always soup. Venders on the street sell stuff just like in New York, only it's really Asian, like a lot of Hello Kitty stuff. The shirts with English writing are especially funny; we saw one yesterday that said girl door candy or something weird like that. We also found a market yesterday with a lot of fruit and vegetables and lots of live animals. Sarah got really close to the chickens so we hope she didn't catch the bird flu. Also, I don't know why people said we'd lose so much weight here. A lot of the food is good, but then in the stores you can buy regular stuff: skippy peanut butter, oreos, stuff like that. But they also sell eels a few feet away and that gets smelly and weird.
-Katie Simpson

Posted by China Traveller at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)