A couple of queries...

Is it fair to assume that an English speaking vendor at this market will be
hard to find ? I should take appropriately worded cue cards ??

Secondly ... I understand that bargaining in Beijing is the norm in the
market type stalls, but is it still appropriate to bargain at the tea
market, which I assume the locals also shop at ? I wish to avoid offending
anyone.



--
Cheers
Mal
Oz
http://maloz.bigblog.com.au/index.do

> Is it fair to assume that an English speaking vendor at this market will be
> hard to find ? *I should take appropriately worded cue cards ??
That's hard to say, but there are a lot of people in Beijing studying
English now, just because of the Olympics. So you can probably bet,
that at least some people there will speak a little English. Still,
it's best if you bring cue cards to avoid confusion.

> Secondly ... I understand that bargaining in Beijing is the norm in the
> market type stalls, but is it still appropriate to bargain at the tea
> market, which I assume the locals also shop at ? *I wish to avoid offending
> anyone.

If the product doesn't have a sticker price on it, assume that you can
bargain down the price a little. Make excuses like these:
"It's ugly, I don't really like it. Give me a cheaper price."
"I'm buying a lot of them. Give me a cheaper price."
"I will tell all of my overseas friends about your store. Give me a
cheaper price."
"At the other store they sell it for (x) yuan, your price is too
expensive."
"This one has some defects/chips/cracks. I want a cheaper price."
"You don't have the box? I want a cheaper price."
"Your boss said he would give me a cheaper price."
"My wife won't let me pay that price. But if you give me a cheaper
price, maybe I can afford it."

You get the idea. Be creative. Of course, they will also make excuses
why you should pay that particular price. So be prepared. It also
might be a good idea to check prices in a few places, just to be sure
the price they are quoting you is a fair price, and not an escalated
one.

Thanks, and I assume also that if they finally refuse to sell it at a
particular price you've obviously gone too low - pretty obvious, I'd say !

And as we all know, if we like the taste/smell/experience, and the price is
what you are prepared to pay, it really doesn't matter that much if you
can't read what's on the box/wrapper !

Man, I can't wait to spend a day at this place !

--
Cheers
Mal
Oz
http://maloz.bigblog.com.au/index.do
"niisonge" > wrote in message
...
> Is it fair to assume that an English speaking vendor at this market will
> be
> hard to find ? I should take appropriately worded cue cards ??
That's hard to say, but there are a lot of people in Beijing studying
English now, just because of the Olympics. So you can probably bet,
that at least some people there will speak a little English. Still,
it's best if you bring cue cards to avoid confusion.

> Secondly ... I understand that bargaining in Beijing is the norm in the
> market type stalls, but is it still appropriate to bargain at the tea
> market, which I assume the locals also shop at ? I wish to avoid offending
> anyone.

If the product doesn't have a sticker price on it, assume that you can
bargain down the price a little. Make excuses like these:
"It's ugly, I don't really like it. Give me a cheaper price."
"I'm buying a lot of them. Give me a cheaper price."
"I will tell all of my overseas friends about your store. Give me a
cheaper price."
"At the other store they sell it for (x) yuan, your price is too
expensive."
"This one has some defects/chips/cracks. I want a cheaper price."
"You don't have the box? I want a cheaper price."
"Your boss said he would give me a cheaper price."
"My wife won't let me pay that price. But if you give me a cheaper
price, maybe I can afford it."

You get the idea. Be creative. Of course, they will also make excuses
why you should pay that particular price. So be prepared. It also
might be a good idea to check prices in a few places, just to be sure
the price they are quoting you is a fair price, and not an escalated
one.

One other thing, if you buy any tea sets or tea utensils, be sure to
check each piece for chips/defects. Probably won't be any, but just to
be on the safe side...
They can change out a piece for you and switch with one from another
set. Just be sure to check when you buy it. And it's expected that the
buyer will inspect the product before buying anyway, so don't be shy.

Also, say you're from Australia, and you're taking it back with you.
If you need some special packing or something, ask them to do it for
you.

Cool - will do, but I think my wife might get a little &^%$^% if I bring
home too many more pots ! She's already put a limit of 2kgs on the amount of
tea I can bring home ;-))

She still has memories of our last trip to Hong Kong where we (sorry, I) had
to buy another small suit case to bring home my tea booty.

--
Cheers
Mal
Oz
http://maloz.bigblog.com.au/index.do
"niisonge" > wrote in message
...
> One other thing, if you buy any tea sets or tea utensils, be sure to
> check each piece for chips/defects. Probably won't be any, but just to
> be on the safe side...
> They can change out a piece for you and switch with one from another
> set. Just be sure to check when you buy it. And it's expected that the
> buyer will inspect the product before buying anyway, so don't be shy.
>
> Also, say you're from Australia, and you're taking it back with you.
> If you need some special packing or something, ask them to do it for
> you.

Mal from Oz > wrote:
>
>Secondly ... I understand that bargaining in Beijing is the norm in the
>market type stalls, but is it still appropriate to bargain at the tea
>market, which I assume the locals also shop at ? I wish to avoid offending
>anyone.

There is no place in the world where bargaining is inappropriate. The
worst anyone can do is to say no (which they repeatedly do to me at
Home Depot).
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

> Cool - will do, but I think my wife might get a little &^%$^% if I bring
> home too many more pots ! She's already put a limit of 2kgs on the amount of
> tea I can bring home ;-))

Yeah, a limit of 2 Kgs of tea leaves, but what about tea utensils?
Hehe. When you check into your hotel, ask them if they can arrange
parcel shipping for you to Australia. That might be an option. That
might save your back having to lug so much stuff to the airport and
home. The shops in Maliandao should be able to arrange shipping too,
but... can they be trustworthy?

On 2008-04-20, Mal from Oz > wrote:

> Is it fair to assume that an English speaking vendor at this market
> will be hard to find ? I should take appropriately worded cue cards
> ??

I don't think most vendors will speak much English (you might get a lot
of "hellos" as you walk around - this happened to me a lot, though not
as much in the tea malls as in more touristy places), but I think you
shouldn't have a problem communicating. A lot of places will probably
pull out a calculator to give you prices (you can type your own prices
in when you're bargaining), and you can point or whatever.

You will probably find that a lot of people speak enough English to
conduct business, though without a translator, you'll miss out on some
information. On the other hand, you'll also miss out on a lot of sales
pitches, which I would say is a good thing.

I think the most useful phrase in Mandarin you should learn and practice
before leaving is bu yao (bu is rising tone, yao is falling tone) - if
you say it fast, it kind of sounds like booeyao - more of a dipthong
than a straight "oo". That means 'I don't want any'. (And, if you do
want something, it's just 'yao'). Nie ge (sounds pretty close to an
offensive racial term in English) is "that one", used a lot also as an
"um" type equivalent.

> Secondly ... I understand that bargaining in Beijing is the norm in
> the market type stalls, but is it still appropriate to bargain at the
> tea market, which I assume the locals also shop at ? I wish to avoid
> offending anyone.

We definitely bargained when we went to Tianshan market in Shanghai
(similar but much smaller)... and everywhere else we went in Mainland
China. Especially if you're white, and don't speak Chinese, assume the
prices you're being given are pretty high (relatively speaking).
Ultimately, you WILL pay higher prices, and you probably won't do as
well as a local, but you might as well try not to look like a total
chump. Even if the prices seem cheap, relative to your local currency,
bargain anyway. I think 50% or less of whatever price someone says is
probably a good starting place.

As always in bargaining, don't be afraid to walk away if the price seems
too high. They will probably call you back, but if they don't, you can
always come back later and get it (plus, at a huge mall like that, I'm
sure you can get almost anything from multiple vendors).

All that said, tea and teaware in China are pretty cheap, so don't turn
into too much of a cheapskate, or you'll be kicking yourself when you
get home. You probably won't see a lot of really high end or rare
stuff... and the stuff that seems like it might be will very likely be
fake. So don't be afraid to bargain, even for that "real" lao zhu ni
teapot.

w

> We definitely bargained when we went to Tianshan market in Shanghai
> (similar but much smaller)... and everywhere else we went in Mainland
> China. Especially if you're white, and don't speak Chinese, assume the
> prices you're being given are pretty high (relatively speaking).
> Ultimately, you WILL pay higher prices, and you probably won't do as
> well as a local, but you might as well try not to look like a total
> chump. Even if the prices seem cheap, relative to your local currency,
> bargain anyway. I think 50% or less of whatever price someone says is
> probably a good starting place.


I have to agree with Will here. That's why I said it's better if you
do some research first, and know what the prices are like in Mainland
China. If you want to know what prices run here, go to some site like
taobao.com or eachnet.com - and you will have to type in chinese
characters to search for what you want to look for. But that should
give you a ballpark figure of what prices are running.

Another thing, the Maliandao is a wholesale market, but unless you're
buying in quantity, assume they're quoting you the ordinary retail
price. Also, because you're a foreigner, assume they are quoting a
price higher than the retail price.

Also, items are usually priced according to quality. And there are low-
end, crappy tea utensils, and high-end, quality tea utensils. So you
need to be able to tell the difference.

And because you're a foreigner, sometimes it's a good thing that you
don't understand Chinese. Sometimes those salespeople can be really
pushy. If you need a polite out, just use body language to say "I
don't understand"; and play dumb.

For bargaining, if they don't budge on the price, you might be able to
ask them to include a "free gift' into the deal. It's a common
practice in China to give freebies, and Chinese are accustomed to
this. Also, expect service to be very good here. Chinese are constant
complainers: "I don't like this. The color is wrong. This product
looks defective. The packaging has a hole in it." Etc., etc. So
salespeople are accustomed to this, and can be accomodating - but only
if you ask, and speak up.

And always remember this phase: "bu hao", literally meaning "no good".
That way, they won't keep pushing something on you that you don't
want.

I'm sure when you come to China, it will be an eye-opening experience.
And when you get to Maliandao, you will be like a kid in a candy
store. So have fun.

Also, do remember to visit a couple of teahouses in Beijing. You
definitely don't want to miss out on that.

If you haven't see already, here are photos of the Maliandao Tea
Market:


http://bbs.52bj.cn/dv_rss.asp?s=xhtml&boardid=3&id=1759


http://www.cha.cc/news/thread_8976.html


Man, that place is HUGE!!!!

Dear Mal,

Have a great time! It requires some serious energy to bargain in the
zillion shops. One thing I didn't realise before arriving is that
Maliandao isn't a big tea mall. It's a long, long street FILLED with
huge tea malls. Some of the tea malls are hidden behind other tea
malls. Each mall contains a zillion shops. There are a few great
malls which you should visit, which I've described on the Half-Dipper:
start at the following post, and use "Newer posts" at the bottom of
the page to continue.

http://half-dipper.blogspot.com/2007...om-orient.html

Keep your head out there!


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

P.s. Don't forget the Confucious Teahouse (Kongzi Chalou) opposite the
"Lama Temple", in northeast Beijing.

Ha ! Guess what ?

I just qualified to Silver status on my Frequent Flyer points - that gives
me an extra 10kg baggage limit ;-))


--
Cheers
Mal
Oz
http://maloz.bigblog.com.au/index.do
"niisonge" > wrote in message
...
>> Cool - will do, but I think my wife might get a little &^%$^% if I bring
>> home too many more pots ! She's already put a limit of 2kgs on the amount
>> of
>> tea I can bring home ;-))
>
> Yeah, a limit of 2 Kgs of tea leaves, but what about tea utensils?
> Hehe. When you check into your hotel, ask them if they can arrange
> parcel shipping for you to Australia. That might be an option. That
> might save your back having to lug so much stuff to the airport and
> home. The shops in Maliandao should be able to arrange shipping too,
> but... can they be trustworthy?