Let’s talk about friendship stores and department stores first. Friendship stores are basically just government run department stores, and the prices are usually a bit higher. You do not bargain in most department stores or friendship stores. In order to buy something you tell (or pantomime to) the person working there that you want to buy it. They will write it up on a four part form and give you three parts. You then go around the store deciding what you want and having people write things up that you want to buy. When you are done shopping and have a handful of forms, you find the cashier and give her the forms, the cashier will tell you how much you owe and take your money. She (or he) will then stamp the forms and give two parts of each form back to you. You then go back and find the people who wrote the items up for you, hand them the stamped forms and they will match them up with what they wrote and give you the items and one part of the form. There is a lot of stamping and stapling that happens during this process.

When you buy something from a street vendor or from a small store you almost always bargain for the price. Most of the time the price is not marked and you have to ask - if this is the case then know that you are going to have to bargain. It is part of the whole China experience, and you’ll have a lot more fun if you can really get into the bargaining process and not see it as a drudgery.

In my experience, the general rule when bargaining is to offer somewhere around 20 to 30 percent of what the price is and then bargain yourself to a maximum of somewhere under half of what they are asking. If something is 100 yuan then offer 20 or 25 or 30 yuan (depending on how aggressive you want to be) and expect to pay at the most about 40 or 45 yuan. It is usually possible to be really aggressive and bargain your way down farther to about 30 or 35 Yuan, but it takes a while, and for me it’s just not worth standing there an extra five minutes to save ten yuan (about a dollar and a quarter). For more expensive items I’ll do it, or if I happen to have the time and want the challenge I might, but most of the time when I’m shopping I just want to buy this so I can get to the next thing and buy that, too. Just remember to always offer them less than what you want to pay, they need to be able to come back at you with a higher price from whatever you offer.

For something that is very cheap I usually just pull out about half what they are asking and say how much it is as I hold it out, if they retort something higher I shrug my shoulders and move to put the money away as I turn to walk away and they always grab the money from me as I’m doing it. I know I could easily bargain it down even more, but if it’s two dollars to start with and I offer them a dollar do I really want to bargain it down to seventy five cents? Not really.

When shopping I always have a small amount of yuan in a pocket (50 to 150 yuan in fives and tens) that I can reach into easily, but that if it is pick pocketed it’s not the end of the world. I also have more yuan (several hundred) in an area that would be very hard for a pickpocket to get to (an inside pocket of a jacket, for instance). And then I have more money in a waist pouch that I only get into while I’m in a bathroom stall, so the pickpockets don’t see me pulling money out of it. RK does the same thing, so between us we can usually buy something expensive without needing to make a trip to the bathroom. When we start running low on funds we just go to the bathroom and pull more money out.

You’ll get farther with bargaining if they think that is truly all you are going to pay. You cannot be wishy washy, you must be firm. Nice, but firm. You also get farther by pulling out what you are willing to pay and holding it out at them and saying how much it is (which of course you can only do if you learn to say the numbers in Mandarin). But, again, once you are within about ten yuan of where you want to be then remember that you are haggling over a dollar. It’s easy to get into the energy of the bargaining process and forget that.

Everywhere I have shopped where bargaining takes place the shopkeeper has had a calculator with big buttons and big numbers that they show you the amount on. You then hit the clear button and punch in what you want to pay. They will hit the clear button and punch in their next price. And you keep going back and forth until one of you says that is okay. There is really no need to take a calculator for this, the shopkeepers will have them.

Never start the bargaining process if you are not going to buy the item. Never state a price you will pay unless you are prepared to pay that amount. Stating a price is almost like signing a contract saying you are prepared to pay at least that much. It is taken very seriously. If you cannot agree on a price then you can walk away, but expect them to grab you and pull you back for more bargaining if that is the case. One time, when bargaining for Jade, I walked away expecting them to pull me back and they did not, so they don’t always do it, but most of the time they do.

You can almost always get a better bargain if you are buying a lot of stuff. If you have several people in your travel group wanting the same thing (like pearls, or jade bracelets) then if you can all go in together and have one person bargaining on behalf of everyone you will get a much better price than if you were to all buy them separately.

Most of the shopkeepers will understand enough English to get the idea of what you and your husband are saying to each other. Most will not let you know that they can speak any English at all. Do not assume you can talk about how you are going to bargain and you are safe that you won’t be understood. I’ve seen people talk to their husband and say things like “I’m going to offer her 200 yuan but is it okay if I pay her 300?”. That’s really not a good idea. Unless of course that is part of your bargaining strategy (wink wink).

In some areas the street vendors can be quite aggressive. If you say bu yao (Boo like a ghost and Yao like Yao Ming’s name) then you are saying “don’t want” and this will work for some of them. Have your guide help you learn to say “bu yao” and “tai guila” (too expensive, pronounced tie gway luh, but you’ll need help getting the tone and inflection right). I once had a street vendor physically hold me to a wall demanding I buy something from him while all I could get out was BU YAO BU YAO BU YAO. When RK rounded the corner and saw what was going on he managed to get out, in Mandarin, “she said no want” with his face about two inches from the street vendor’s face, they had a five second stare down and the vendor walked away. I have since learned to hold my own even with the street vendors, but it can be scary until you get your legs under you. I’ve also had a vendor working in a stall grab me and try to physically pull me into the stall - I handled that one without needing RK. It really is all in your attitude. Don’t let them intimidate you.

There was a lot of talk yesterday about how to get your purchases home. I am not a fan of packing a lot of consumables that you can buy in China, so I won’t be packing diapers and snacks that will be used up. I’ll carry enough snacks for the plane ride over and the first day or two, but that doesn’t really take up that much room in your luggage. And the Chinese diapers are fine, so again I’ll take enough diapers to last two days just in case we don’t get to a store right away. Same goes for formula, I’ll take enough so we aren’t without, but my intention is to buy formula in China as well.

Since I won’t be taking a lot of consumables that will be used up to make space for souvenirs I will be buying at least one, probably two suitcases while in China. The suitcases that you buy aren’t the best and the handles usually break off before you get them home, but they cost about ten dollars and they do the job of getting your items home. I also pack about ten feet of bubble wrap in my luggage going over because that can be hard to find in China. It’s lightweight and doesn’t take up much room and can come in handy when packing fragile teapots. Yes, you can wrap items in clothing to cushion it, but it’s nice to have the bubble wrap as an extra precaution.

I am playing around with the idea of packing a large travel duffel into our regular luggage this time, it just depends on how much space we have in our luggage. If there is room though, then I will be able to use this almost immediately for extra items we purchase. We will have two checked pieces of luggage, and since we have our older daughter with us we’ll be able to check a third if necessary on the in-China flights.

Someone asked what I plan to buy. I will buy enough kid shoes to last for several years. I plan to buy several tablecloths and probably some placemats as well. We already have more teapots than one family needs, but I’m guessing RK will find another one or two or three that he just has to have. RK will also find tea that he will want to buy as well. I will also need to buy some jade items for my younger daughter so she will have the things my older daughter already has. I think we are good on pearls.

And that’s all that immediately comes to mind, but once I’m there and shopping there will be a lot more things that will come to mind.