Yashow Market, an emporium of bargaining and counterfeit goods
China is widely acknowledged as one of the cheapest shopping destinations on earth, as well as a global centre for the retailing of counterfeit goods. One particularly famous emporium of both cheap goods and counterfeit items is Yashow Market, in the north-east of Beijing.
For those who like to haggle, who enjoy the satisfaction of doing good business and more importantly, who do not mind buying counterfeit goods, Yashow Market is paradise. For those who do not like being bothered when they do their shopping, it's hell!
Located near Sanlitun, one of the main streets in Beijing, Yashow Market is a huge five-storey shopping complex where you can find cheap clothing, DVDs and all kinds of trinkets. It is even possible to buy a Rolex for less than 20 euros! The Rolex will most likely be a fake, of course.
When the price is a rhetorical matter
Just like the Silk Market, another shopping centre in the Chinese capital, Yashow is open until 9pm every day and draws quite a crowd: tourists, expatriates and normal Beijingers often come here for their shopping.
Small clothing boutiques are perhaps the central element of the popularity of the place. Everything from cashmere to leather is there, and they can reduce in price by 30-40% if you negotiate.
Haggling is part of the folklore of Yashow and is central to its charm: items for sale are mostly fakes of limited quality, so asking for a discount is quite legitimate even though vendors often pretend to be selling authentic goods. After-sales service is, of course, limited.
Do not hesitate to break off the negotiations ... in order to get a deal
The important things to remember when haggling are to remain courteous, to keep a sense of humour, and not to rush. If a seller refuses to lower his price – which will be set artificially high anyway – don't hesitate to leave. If your demands are reasonable, he will relent and call you back to get a deal.
The commonly accepted rule has it that it is possible to divide the merchant's original price by three. Optimists estimate that you can divide it by ten for certain products. If the seller is unable to sell at his original price, you should be in a similar situation: your first offer should be very low.
Ideally, come together with a Chinese friend. This will encourage vendors not to overprice their goods and avoid any potential communication difficulties. Even if you're alone and don't speak Mandarin, you should be okay – most of the traders speak enough English to discuss money and prices. If all else fails, they always have a calculator on them to let you know the most important information, the prices.
Olympic Controversy
A popular stop for tour operators in China, Yashow Market is often full of Western tourists keen to spend their money. However, around the time of the 2008 Olympics, controversies around counterfeiting and tightened enforcement of intellectual property rights in China, Yashow Market was on a temporary hiatus.
The tour parties stopped, and Yashow slowed down for a little while. Some shops, such as the DVD shop located on the ground floor, appeared to be closed for several weeks before the start of Olympic competitions. No more pirate DVDs, which western customers snap up the rest of the year for 8-10 yuan each, were on the shelves. Only Taiji Quan and Qi Gong films appeared to be on sale.
It was nevertheless possible, if you asked nicely, to be invited into the back room to see all the traditional Yashow Market products. It was a business on hold, and hidden, but not stopped completely.
