Dajing Lu
On my way to Yuyuan Gardens in the Old Town, Puxi, I found many interesting small streets on the other end of the urban spectrum from the financial district where I live. Dajing Lu, pictured above, was by far my favorite street.
2 Yuan Store
I finally found the Chinese equivalent of the dollar store, or the 2 Yuan store (converts to 30 cents). I was in disbelief that the jewelry was that cheap, so I asked the shopkeeper, “duoshao chian” (how much)? He reacted strongly by holding up the large purple sign on the right with a serious expression and made welcoming gestures to buy as much as I wanted. I would describe the products in detail for you but many of my cheap purchases here are presents for the primary readers of this blog.
Kite Seller
Each shop had its own specialty with goods hanging outside like beautiful bait and a usually pushy merchant guarding the entrance.
Cops on the Corner
After I tried to get a picture of the cops on the corner, one of them took an aggressive step toward me, shrugged his shoulders, and put his palms up in front of me in a sharp motion, expressing something like, “why the hell did you feel the need to take our picture? There’s no scene here.”
The Chopsticks Lady
I’m glad I had the opportunity to snag a photo of this woman on my way out of her shop because she was by far the most fun out of all the characters I encountered that day. Like many people I meet here, though her expression never changed and she spoke no English, she managed to clearly convey to me what she was wanted. In her shop, I browsed fancy chopsticks until I found a single beautiful jade set with matching turtles as chopstick rests. Keenly following me and noticing my curiosity, she plugged 350 (51 USD) into her calculator to indicate the price to me but I shook my head. All the vendors keep calculators with them to display the cheap register’s price to gullible foreign customers. The woman then shoved the calculator into my hand and I punched in 100 (14 USD). She acted shocked, put my fingers on the chopsticks to feel that the jade was real stone, and then punched in 330 like a gaming addict. Eager to show her how I played the game, I punched in 100 again. After dropping her offer in several small but drawn out increments, she made made a fed-up expression, abruptly laid down the calculator, and dropped the chopsticks into a plastic bag for 100 Yuan. I was probably foolish to have not set the price even lower, but I’m happy with what I bought. Prior to this purchase, I had given up haggling because of my linguistic lack, but the Australian girls I met nearby gave me confidence by claiming that they always set the price they wanted, never budged from it, pretended to walk away, ignored all pleas, and walked off with the good purchased at their reasonable price.
Clothes Shop
I bought a pretty white Chinese top here. At one point, when I expressed interest in different patterns of another top, the shopkeeper sent off a boy lurking around the shop to fetch some more tops from some nearby shop. While I was finishing bargaining for the white top, he returned panting on a bicycle with a few more shirts in hand. He seemed a little upset with the merchant as I exited.
Oh, good – you are trying learning the fine art of good negotiations. I always like to pay a fair price, but never the high tourist price. You will use this skill again and again in your life, so keep practicing! and have fun!