Meandering through Beijing

I don't know if I'll get to all that I planned to, or even if I ever will, but here are a few thoughts on my mind.

The first is that I today expressed probably the most complex thought I've managed to express in Chinese so far during our afternoon one-on-one session, which is as follows: I think that the U.S. and China have fundamentally different attitudes to prices. By China, I might be referring more generally to Asia. I had a similar feeling in Vietnam, but I don't think I've been to enough places to know yet, so I'll refrain from saying so.

The fundamental difference is that I think as an American you accept money to have a fixed value. You talk about getting a deal when you buy something. If you go out to eat, 5 bucks is definitely cheap for lunch, 10 bucks for a sitdown dinner tends to be a pretty nice deal. Prices vary regionally. You expect to spend more downtown in a city than out in a town in the middle of nowhere. Something else you never think about is that prices are absolute. When's the last time you haggled, ever? Price implies quality - when you go out to eat a nice meal, you plan to spend more and go to a restaurant with a particular ambiance, and presumably better food.

China's pricing structure doesn't work the same way, and I think that it's something you seriously have to watch out for when you go to China. Assuming that a price you find in a given location is reasonable is a trap. Just about anything is negotiable, not at a restaurant, but besides that you can go to any stand or store, sometimes even in a mall, and try to cut a deal. And I think it's something that as an American we have trouble with, because prices are Prices. They are predetermined, inflexible, and you do things such as buying in bulk or buying a store-brand in order to economize. So the flexibility throws a wrench in things. There is no floor - I bet if you went to the right place you could buy anything you wanted for two bucks. I'm exaggerating, but not as much as you would think. Sure, name brand items command more respect, resulting in higher price tags. But basically, the way that pricing works in China seems haphazard, arbitrary. You do not know that a restaurant is better by it being more expensive. I'm almost a little bit suspicious whenever a restaurant is too expensive because I can almost guarantee that it will be no better than a restaurant that costs a third the price. Restaurants also don't value the same qualities as American ones do - I couldn't really imagine people paying twice as much money to eat somewhere where the lights are turned down to half-intensity and the ceilings match the walls. Then again, chains are almost consistently more expensive than smaller family-owned places, so brands do mean something. It's not that easy.

In short - quality does not work the same way as it does in the States. I think the best chance you have to find a good place for any given service is word of mouth. A dingy restaurant can have the best food you've ever tasted. Clean restaurants can serve laduzi-inducing meals (isn't it great that the chinese have three words for diarrhea?). It can be frustrating, but it's also exhilerating, because your ability to find a good price depends so much on your own perspicacity and tenacity.

As far as the language itself goes - I've had a lot of thoughts lately, but I don't know if I can gather them all right now now that I'm actually sitting in front of a computer. My apologies. I guess all I'll state is how beautiful and fluent and flat out fascinating putonghua has been. I wish I could teach you a few expressions, but for now...suan le ba (nevermind/whatever/forget about it).