Shopping

Shopping in China is frustrating and fascinating at the same time. For a westerner the perhaps the biggest difference is in pricing.

In China the lowest price is determined by negotiation. For a trader, the ideal price of an item is the highest price that a customer is willing to pay. Generally rich customers are willing to pay more, poor customers will pay less. The trader will adjust his opening position accordingly. From the opening position bargaining will begin until the two parties reach a mutually satisfactory price. The system is designed to maximise the retailers profits. He is extracting the maximum markup from each individual customer.

However when a westerner asks for a price, s/he will often be quoted a price up to 20 times the price a local would be willing to pay. It is particularly aggravating when this happens, you really feel that the trader thinks you are an idiot. Apparently it is "well known" among traders that foreigners don't haggle and will pay any price. Sometimes you will be quoted a realistic price, other times hard bargaining will be required, this becomes a bit of a chore when it happens several times a day, every day. For this reason, I tend to shop in supermarkets, where the prices are a little higher, but fixed.

Speaking of shopping, below are some photos from the places where I buy my groceries;

A small veg & meat market very close to my apartment

Every supermarket sells chicken feet, you will see far more chicken feet in the store than any other part of the chicken

This is a large outdoor market in the Russian 'quarter'.

Chicken heads for sale in Dalian's most expensive supermarket, only 3.4Yuan, that's about €0.08 a head.

Dalian is world famous for it's sea-cucumbers, they are very expensive, look disgusting, taste awful, and have the consistency of a decomposing sock.

The price on the sign is 498yuan per jin. That's about €100 a Kilo! All-in-all, the marketing people have their work cut out.

Dalian has hundreds of outdoor shellfish vendors. Molly Malone, with her cockles and mussels, was only in the ha'penny place compared to the variety available on any street corner.

In Ireland the shelves are full of tanning products, in China however, there are many 'whitening' products, to lighten the skin tone.