Business transactions in China are not just of a business nature, the
social aspect plays an important role. Let's take the souvenir shop
in our hotel: from morning at eight until morning at one, a friendly
salesperson stands at the door and invites you to visit the shop. Once
inside, a wealthy display of silk and cashmere (okay, give and take a
little polyester), pearls, coral, fans and jade are at first a bit
overwhelming. But the very second your eyes rest upon one object the
adorable young woman smells her
prey and moves in for the kill. It may be, as in my case, pearl
necklaces in many colors. "You wear, like this," she says, twisting
two chains onto one- "very pretty. I make you good price." From my
Chinese friend, I know that the foreigner generally pays four times
the price that a Chinese would pay, so I try (apparently without
success) to look disinterested. "Four necklaces, 600 yuan," I shake my
head, I'm truly not interested. But then the bargaining itself starts
to get interesting, the game begins. I think that many of us from the
West find this part a bit embarassing- it's just not our culture. Here
it's kind of like patting someone on the shoulder- first you pat me,
then I pat you and at the end everybody's all smiles. That's how it
was: the price of the necklaces went down to 480, then to 400. I moved
away and started to look at dresses- a change of tactic easily seen
through, but it didn't daunt my pursuer. And, honestly, I really
didn't want to buy any of them. But at the end, I walked out of that
shop as proud posessor of four pearl necklaces, destined to become
presents for my sisters. Sales price: 300 yuan, about 45 Swiss francs-
still too much, but both parties, seller and buyer, wore happy smiles
at their parting.
I do like doing business in China!
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