After surviving the Great Wall, our small group had a few minutes before we needed to regroup with our delegation, so we decided to go through the small shops. We went into one one small store and the contents grabbed my eye. It was a tiny room packed with all sorts of goods: cheongsams, qipaos, t-shirts that read "I survived the Great Wall," more clothing, fans, stuffed animals, pandas, kid's toys, bookmarks, all sorts of hand-held items, everything--and it was all so very colorful. I could barely take all of it in, there was just so much.
But one particular item caught my eye: a black cheongsam (a Chinese dress that was popular during the 1920-1940s). It's a beautiful dress that is firm-fitting and typically has slits running along the legs. I just had to buy it.
While I was googling over the dress, a saleslady stood nearby and I figured, 'hey, why not try out speaking Chinese again?' So I turned to her, gestured to the dress and asked 多少钱？(duo shao qian pronounced "dwoo. shou [shout without the t]. chee-an") which means "how much is it?" Instead of giving a number, she spoke a very long sentence that I did not understand. Apparently my blank expression alerted the saleslady that my Chinese was not very good, and she translated to English, saying that I could choose how much to pay.
I was kind of shocked... I mean, how much should I have paid for the dress? what was it worth? I had no idea! While I was debating what would be a fair price, I spotted a bamboo fan with a dragon on it. My older sister would love it. I picked it up and decided that I would add it with the dress. But what would be a fair price?
And I stood there, awkwardly, trying to possibly figure out what a decent price was when my group walked out of the store. I handed the fan to the saleslady and told her to hold on then I ran out of the store (the exit was on the other side of the store) and hollered to my group that I was still in the store and that I was planning to buy something.
A girl came up to me and asked me what I was buying and how much I was going to spend on it. When I confessed that I wasn't sure how much to spend on a dress and a fan, she told me to spend no more than $30 USD. Funny, because I was debating whether double that would have been an appropriate price. Then she gave me the advice that if we can't get the price down to $30, that we should walk out of the store.
It was bargaining. Before I came to China, that was one of my fears: that I would have to bargain and that I would be cheated out of a lot of money or that I would cheat someone else out of a lot of money.
Yet, there I was, accompanied and bargaining in China. We walked out of the store several times before finally negotiating the price to what we wanted. As soon as we reached that price, the saleslady slung the cheongsam across her arm, huffed, and said "fine." It was a very comical moment that would have fit in a soap opera. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
She then scurried to the cash register and rung up the order. The girl who advised me took my camera and said that she wanted evidence in case they charged my credit card the wrong amount. Yet, when the receipt was printed, it was the correct amount we had agreed on and I signed. Plus, I gained a really cool photo! Haha
Today, I wear the cheongsam a lot.
I'll wear it when I give speeches about
China and I also wear it on Chinese holidays.
