Breakfast at our new hotel was slightly more American/European friendly. They had toast and eggs in addition to what I described yesterday. Our first trip was to the Great Wall, about an hour and a half drive from Beijing. An hour in, the flat land surrounding the city immediately gives way to steep, pointed mountains, around which winds the Wall. The fastest way to the top is to take what is essentially a ski lift (but with closed capsules). The parking and walkway areas to the station felt like the Grange Fair. Vendors sold food and memorabilia, and for about $3, a man would let you sit on a camel and have your picture taken. The line for the lift took half an hour to get through, and as with the Mausoleum at Tiananaman Square, others did not hesitate to give us a push from behind or cut in front of our group entirely if they felt we weren’t advancing quickly enough. The top of the lift and a short tunnel bought us to the wall, which was much steeper than I had imagined. Sections of the walkway rose at angles near 45 degrees, and the smooth stone ramps really tested my shoes’ traction. The location we visited is one of the most popular, which means some great views but also an awful lot of foot traffic. However, about 15 or 20 minutes down the walk there’s almost no one around. In all directions, one can see sections of the wall in the distance, curving back and forth in order to take the path of least resistance through the mountaintops. It is said that anyone who can climb to the highest elevation of that section of the wall is a hero for accomplishing the feat, and after 20 or 30 minutes of upward trekking in the midday sun, we understood why. In the line to take the lift back down the mountains we teamed up with some women from New Jersey and formed a blockade to stop those behind from cutting.
The Great Wall
Our next location was the Olympic Park, where the Bird’s Nest Stadium and Water Cube stand. The former is about the same size as Beaver Stadium (with a smaller capacity) but looks much larger because of the imposing steel trunks that cross around its exterior. Inside, a tight-rope walker crossed the stadium’s roof while visitors milled around, thinking about what it would have been like to see Usain Bolt jog the last 15m in 2008. The Water Cube looks like a giant package of bubble wrap, and has the local nickname “Magic Box.” The surrounding area has a long concrete walkway, along which street venders sell books, kites, and fake Rolex watches. The kites are not what you might picture. Instead of having one large kite at the end of a string, they have 10-20 small ones connected at intervals along a rope’s length.
Street vendors are not exclusive to the Olympic Park. Pretty much any place where tourists are likely to go (everywhere we’ve gone) they wait in the street and work their way into the center of large groups. They usually disperse at the wave of a hand or if we say “no I don’t want it, thank you” in Chinese. This is one of a few phrases we’ve learned from the Chinese students in the program, which have come to be very useful. Venders and waiters respond much better to requests if you at least attempt to speak their language.
Our last stop of the day was the Silk Market. This is a four-story building consisting of several hundred small shops, which sell just about everything you can imagine from every brand you know. According to Duncan, there’s a saying that goes “If you buy something at the Silk Market today, you will regret it today. If you buy it tomorrow you will regret it tomorrow. But, if you don’t buy anything, you will regret it for the rest of your life.” However, there are two catches. First: Just about every item is a knockoff of a high-end product. Second: Every price is negotiable, and the right one is usually 5-10% of what the shopkeepers first ask.
In about an hour and a half, members of our group experimented with different methods of bartering. By the end, most hands were filled with Nike shoes (which usually went for $30-40), Rolex watches ($5-10), laser pointers ($9), dress shirts ($15), silk ties ($2) or soccer jerseys ($9). Pretty much everyone who purchased something in the first hour got ripped off, but by the end of our time we had a sense of what the bottom line prices for most goods should be, and what techniques worked best in order to get the shopkeepers there. I didn’t buy anything, but observed and supported others as much as I could knowing that we would be stopping at similar markets again in the future (so I suppose I fit into the “regret” category of the saying, although so far I’m feeling okay). I’ve tried to compile what I learned into the following list:
1. Always work in a group of three or more. You’ll keep each other from getting ripped off and will stay more confident. Plus, when you buy in bulk prices go way down. Usually it’s best if one person does most of the talking and confers with everyone else between exchanges of numbers.
2. Don’t ask for a price until you and everyone with you have found exactly what you want. This way, you’ll have a better sense of how much you want it and what you’re willing to pay. Don’t compromise on that price.
3. All the bartering is done by typing numbers into calculators. The shopkeepers usually have decent English, but it’s much easier for them and you to just type prices. If you’re buying more than one item, you can use it to do some quick division and find the per unit price. You can also run a quick conversion between dollars and Chinese yuan, abbreviated as RMB ($1 is about 6.75 RMB).
4. Get a sense of the right price before you buy anything. Once you find out what they want initially, cut it by 10% and don’t budge. If they won’t match it (and they won’t at first), walk away. They’ll start calling lower prices after you, and will usually reach what you asked. If you’re still not happy just leave. There are two dozen other shops with the exact same thing, and now you know that it’s probably possible to get it cheaper.
5. Don’t dally, staring at one item thinking about whether you want to buy. You’ll either psych yourself out or they’ll start whispering in your ear and get you mixed up. If you’re not sure if you want it, move on and come back.
6. Try it out. We found watches where the small dials behind the main hands were stickers, shirts that were too wide and too short, ties that were too long, and silk that had rips or stains. All the shopkeepers will open the packaging if they think you might buy. In addition, the sizes are relative to a different body type, and usually run small. Most of the guys my size were buying larges or extra larges, and I’m usually on the small side of medium. More importantly, if you can’t try it out don’t buy it. Video games and systems, and most electronics are bound to never work.
7. If you have a Chinese native among your friends, have him or her sign off on what you’re buying before you agree to a price. Our professor, Xinli, could usually talk to a shopkeeper in Chinese and knock 10-30 yuan off the lowest price of whatever we found, and he did it simply by insisting that the price improve or else we would walk. If he told us to go, we would, and the shopkeeper would always come running after, agreeing to the new price.
8. Only buy one item per person at the first store. When you go past another with the same product, the shopkeeper will ask you what you paid. The best price to tell them is usually about half of what you actually paid. Most of the time, they’ll tell you that they will match it if you want to buy more.
9. If you ask for a price lower than they expect, they’ll usually jokingly ask you if you’re feeling ok, have a fever, etc. They’ll also start comparing what you’re buying to other items around. One woman asked what a guy’s bottle of water cost when he tried to buy a silk tie for 3 RMB (the going rate was closer to 10). Another asked him what his socks cost.
10.The above points out something very important. These venders have a great sense of humor! I haven’t laughed more in months I did during that hour and a half. They’re not only looking to rip you off, but also genuinely enjoy haggling with foreigners. One woman pulled a purple striped shirt out of nowhere and started it putting over the head of a friend of mine to have him try it on, while her assistant tied a silk handkerchief around another of our crew’s head like a babushka. They do come on rather strong, and don’t hesitate to grab your arm and try to pull you into their shop, but you have to take it in good humor and make having a good time more important than buying cheap clothes. If you insist on a price that is obviously too lower or jokingly increase your offer by .1 RMB, they might get mad. However, the worst punishment you’ll receive is a poke in the back as you walk away, and that sensation will soon fade into laughter as you and your friends reminisce.
The trend of lazy susans for lunch and dinner continued from yesterday. I asked Xinli how one says “lazy susan” in Chinese, but he told me they are used at every meal and in title are inseparable from the words for diner table.
Tomorrow we visit the Summer Palace, several Chinese universities, and more!
Location: Beijing, China
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Hey,
Just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading this post. That Silk Market sounds like something I definitely want to check out at some point.
Erich S.