One of the highlights of living in China for me is tao jia huan jia (bargaining) aka shopping. Usually I go to large shopping centers to observe people and explore. I am not a big shopping fan, but here in Beijing I often find myself bargaining for fun at places such as Wangfujing, Xidan, Silk Market, Yashow, non-tourist flea markets, and indeed it is a lot of fun when you almost always get the price you call, literally. I think I'm starting to learn the tjhj secret. =)
The fun started when my friend and I accidentally walked the wrong direction and ended up at the Silk Market! This is aka foreigner's "shopping heaven" because even if you are a bad bargainer, you can get a lot of fake stuff with decent quality for a cheaper price than the US. To name a few: ski gear, scarves, fake branded clothing, sunglasses, purses, shoes, watches, jewelry etc...pretty much anything you can think of in 6 different floors.
I did not plan to buy anything that day but wanted to practice some chinese so I started calling off very ridiculously low prices just to see where it'll take me. One shop after another, I was able to buy everything at the price I first called, not a kuai more. All it took, I learned, sticking to your price and walking away. =) You need to stubborn and not fear what the vendor will say (ie. are you kidding me? you must be joking. this is the best price). If you can do a few of these things, then I think you're golden. Also, I forgot to mention, it's like playing The Price is Right because you'll need to have an idea of a ridiculously cheap price for whichever item. These are some starting prices and the price I bought the item for so you can have an idea:
1. white purse: 650 yuan --> 60 yuan. (less than 1/10 of price)
2. decent quality tie: 460 --> 40
3. exercise pants: 220 --> 45
4. toy cow: 125 --> 25
5. hair clips: 120 --> 10
6. baseball cap: 350 --> 20
7. I admit to one failure at the Silk Market: a shirt 140 --> 20 (he would only sell it for 25, and I stuck to 20, so suan le, I didn't need it...just buy for fun)
Here are some pictures of some famous shopping centers:
Tao Jia Huan Jia
Monday, August 20, 2007
Posted by Nancy Nguyen at 10:26 AM
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