Spirit of a Vendor, Shanghai, CHINA
|
|
|
|
It is a rainy day in Shanghai. A scooter is parked in the back alley of the market. A petite woman takes off her raincoat coat that is soaked inside out. She quickly wraps it up, packs it into a plastic bag and stuffs it into the side pocket of the bike. Then she reaches over to the pocket on the other side, grabs her lunch bag and runs into the building.
The mall is in the basement level of the building and made up of many small stores located side by side in countless hallways and corridors. With souvenir stocks, colorful handbags, custom tailor shops, shoe parlors, walls of shelves full of cashmere/ silk pashminas, colorful silk scarves displayed on the hanger out side of the mini stores, handmade tablecloth suppliers, mini electronic gadget corners, jewelry stores and pearl booths, the whole market displays an interesting harmony together with hopeful vendors, and curious buyers.
As new bargaining day is starting with the store shutters being pulled up,
Rose is in a hurry to open her little souvenir store. She throws her lunch and handbag under the little cashier’s desk, and starts placing the display counter outside in front of the store. She pulls a cart full of merchandise including magnets, play card boxes, small Buddha statues, chopstick boxes, teacup sets, sniff bottles, pottery, and many more items and places them on the counter in a seemly order. Then she opens up the cash register, gets her green tea jar out of her lunch bag, pulls up a little chair in front of the store and starts chatting with a girl standing by the store across the hall way.
In no time the whole mall fills up with sellers and buyers. Foreigners start coming by in search of affordable gifts. Many different nationalities as well as many different negotiating styles can be observed in the market. Indeed, no matter how all these shoppers bargain, there is a unique communication tool here; a calculator. You can negotiate punching the numbers back and forth almost without saying a word. The bargaining level is with the calculator between the sellers and the shoppers are amazingly efficient.
If the shoppers find the item more expensive than they think they should pay, either they bargain more, or they attempt to leave. That is not a good moment for the seller, so the bargaining is extended. I see different attitudes among the vendors some not caring but mostly those determined to sell even if it means lowering their price. At least, that is what they claim after each sale.
The first sale for Rose was a piece of pottery this morning for 180 yen. Then for the rest of the morning she hoped to sell a few more items, maybe a little Chinese script on a canvas displaying a Buddhist proverb as she thought foreigners might like them!
In a positive spirit she opens her lunch container and quickly guzzles down her noodle soup. All of a sudden, a garlicky aroma spreads throughout the market, the dealers appear pulling a chair in front of their store with little containers to have their lunch while trying to catch new buyers.
As some of you are choosing the pearl beads, some of you may be interested in buying pashminas and maybe a little Chinese memorabilia. However many of you may visit the market out of curiosity. It may feel like ordinary shopping but no matter what you buy, once you open a box with a pearl necklace, a little pottery or a pashmina when you come back home; it feels special because those little souvenirs represent that unique market.
To me; when ever I look at the Chinese proverb on my handmade pottery; it reminds me of Rose asking me every time with hopeful and cheerful eyes
“ Will you come again, right? ” while she is handing me her business card to ensure I would go back to find her.
“Yes, Rose I will come again as long as I live in Shanghai!“
I leave the market waving to my Pashmina Lady from across the hallway.
While ambitious sellers’ voices are echoing in the corridors of the mall; another day is slowly descending.
I am thinking about Rose on my way home, I hope she had a good day!
Originally Published in AWCS magazine in 2012
Edited March 2014
EDB
back to What a wonderful world
The mall is in the basement level of the building and made up of many small stores located side by side in countless hallways and corridors. With souvenir stocks, colorful handbags, custom tailor shops, shoe parlors, walls of shelves full of cashmere/ silk pashminas, colorful silk scarves displayed on the hanger out side of the mini stores, handmade tablecloth suppliers, mini electronic gadget corners, jewelry stores and pearl booths, the whole market displays an interesting harmony together with hopeful vendors, and curious buyers.
As new bargaining day is starting with the store shutters being pulled up,
Rose is in a hurry to open her little souvenir store. She throws her lunch and handbag under the little cashier’s desk, and starts placing the display counter outside in front of the store. She pulls a cart full of merchandise including magnets, play card boxes, small Buddha statues, chopstick boxes, teacup sets, sniff bottles, pottery, and many more items and places them on the counter in a seemly order. Then she opens up the cash register, gets her green tea jar out of her lunch bag, pulls up a little chair in front of the store and starts chatting with a girl standing by the store across the hall way.
In no time the whole mall fills up with sellers and buyers. Foreigners start coming by in search of affordable gifts. Many different nationalities as well as many different negotiating styles can be observed in the market. Indeed, no matter how all these shoppers bargain, there is a unique communication tool here; a calculator. You can negotiate punching the numbers back and forth almost without saying a word. The bargaining level is with the calculator between the sellers and the shoppers are amazingly efficient.
If the shoppers find the item more expensive than they think they should pay, either they bargain more, or they attempt to leave. That is not a good moment for the seller, so the bargaining is extended. I see different attitudes among the vendors some not caring but mostly those determined to sell even if it means lowering their price. At least, that is what they claim after each sale.
The first sale for Rose was a piece of pottery this morning for 180 yen. Then for the rest of the morning she hoped to sell a few more items, maybe a little Chinese script on a canvas displaying a Buddhist proverb as she thought foreigners might like them!
In a positive spirit she opens her lunch container and quickly guzzles down her noodle soup. All of a sudden, a garlicky aroma spreads throughout the market, the dealers appear pulling a chair in front of their store with little containers to have their lunch while trying to catch new buyers.
As some of you are choosing the pearl beads, some of you may be interested in buying pashminas and maybe a little Chinese memorabilia. However many of you may visit the market out of curiosity. It may feel like ordinary shopping but no matter what you buy, once you open a box with a pearl necklace, a little pottery or a pashmina when you come back home; it feels special because those little souvenirs represent that unique market.
To me; when ever I look at the Chinese proverb on my handmade pottery; it reminds me of Rose asking me every time with hopeful and cheerful eyes
“ Will you come again, right? ” while she is handing me her business card to ensure I would go back to find her.
“Yes, Rose I will come again as long as I live in Shanghai!“
I leave the market waving to my Pashmina Lady from across the hallway.
While ambitious sellers’ voices are echoing in the corridors of the mall; another day is slowly descending.
I am thinking about Rose on my way home, I hope she had a good day!
Originally Published in AWCS magazine in 2012
Edited March 2014
EDB
back to What a wonderful world