Bargaining

I mentioned this in my first post, but it is definitely something worth talking about. China is filled with bargaining, bargaining, and more bargaining. Unless you’re going to designer stores, it is practically impossible to find something that actually has a fixed price. Scattered around Shanghai are underground shopping centers that are commonly referred to as “cheap streets”. Shop owners stand outside their store trying to convince you to come in speaking broken street English. A pretty standard phrase that is said over and over by the shop owners is “hello you want shirt, ties, watch, dvd, come into my store ok hello”. They will give you a starting price that is about 8 times the actual price. The bargaining begins, and they immediately give you the “student discount”, “best friend discount” and, of course, the “friendly tourist discount”. So far, I have purchased three pairs of fake jeans, two belts, four shirts, and two watches. Nothing has fallen apart…yet.
I am two days away from completing my first month here in Shanghai, and I wonder how much of my wardrobe will be from Cheap Street by December. I must say though, through all of the bargaining and walking around Cheap Streets, my main accomplishment so far is meeting a shop owner who’s actual name is Yao Ming.