The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-03-14
CHINESE TRADERS.
WAYS THAT ARE DARK" OF
PIG-TAILED MERCHANTS.
Always On The Lookout To Get
The Better of q Custom
er-Tricks Of Trade
Graded Charges.

Graded Charges.
The Chinese are what may be termed
s'natural traders" Possessing the com.
mercial instinct in high degree, they
are close, shrewd, and far-sighted in their
ba' ga ns, unt:ring in their cunning ef-
forts to get the better of their customers,
and fertile.to an astonishing degree in
the "tricks of the trade" They under
stand so we'll the principle that "a MIN
BILE sixpence is better than slow shil-
ling" that they often manage to get the
sixpence and the shilling both.
The foreign merchant studies the cost
of his merchandise its quality, the con-
dition of the market, whether the supply
is in excess of the demand orthe reverse,
ind fixes his price acco: dinghy.
The Chinese trader studies all these
points with equal care; but he also
studies each customer. He looks him over
from head to foot, makes a hasty, but
generally accurate, estimate as to his
gulllbility, his closeness or generous hand
| in making a bargain, his knowledge or
ignorance of the market; and only when
be has completed his studies on
these points does he name his
prics for the article desired. Thus
the price of an article in China always
depends more or less upon the person
who makes the purchase. A practical
result of this fact is found in the other
fact that if person enters a store in
China, and, after chatting few mo-
ments with several of the employees, as to
the price of any piece of merchandise,
no price will be named by the clerk, to
whom the question is put, until he has
asked every other one if he has given q
price to the gentleman. If, as very rare-
ly happens, they overlook this duty, the
two prices given by two different clerks
will never be quite the same, thus show
ing I9g,t that hat they their estimate of
The writer once caught two clerks
mapping in this respect, with the anus
ing result, that the first clerk asked So
for an article barely worth two, and five
minutes later, the second one gravely de-
clared that the firm were prepared to
sell the article at loss, and hence, only
asked $15 for it!
Another illustration of the fact that
the Chinese merchant studies his GUS
toners would be given by an examina-
tion of the prices paid by foreigners in
Pekin for such common articles as beef
and mutton. It would be found that
every one paid more for pound of meat
than any of his Chinese neighbors, that
no two paid exactly the same price, or,
if any two did pay the same, that they
did not get the same number of ounces
to the pound.
The solitary barber in Pekin, who
understands dressing the hair in foreign
style, charges an ambassador half dol
lar, secretary of legation twenty-five
cents, and an ordinary foreigner ten.
Water carriers grade their monthly bills
in the same way.
A bars ain in China, no matter how trivial
the sub ,ect may be, is really an intellec-
tual duel, entered upon with all the eager
watchfulness and determination of the
knights of old.
What eloqucnce, what vigor of ex-
preston, and freedom of gesture the
writer has seen expended over the price
of two pounds of cabbage or two cold
boiled sweet potatoes! Quotations from
the Confucian classics, impassioned ap-
peals to bystanders, arguments based on
justice and reason, and irreverent
illusions to the ancestors of the other
man, all come in play over the payment
of perhaps ten cash more or less.
Each is seeking to cheat the other, and
frequently each is successful, the buyer
paying less than he ought, and the seller
cheating him in the weight and measure.
But the argument is an essential part of
every Chinese bargain.
A wealthy American gentleman, being
in Pekin in his journey around the
world, complained to me of the high
prices charged by Chinese innkeepers for
rooms. He. had, so he said, offered two
dollars in payment for a small room
without bedding or furniture in a
wretched inn. The landlord demanded
five for single night. A long wrange
resulted, and finally the gentleman offered
three dollars, which the landlord, after
more words, had consented to accept.
The customary price for such room,
food not included, is twenty cents, and
if the gentleman had offered this sum it
would have been accepted without much
discussion.
The lack of laws, or of their enforce
ment, for standard weights and measures
goes far to facilitate tricks OF trade in
China. Cloths of all sorts, whether of
silk, linen, wool, or cotton, are sold by
the foot. But the merchant invariably
uses one foot when he buys, and a
shorter one when he sells. The foot for
cotton goods is longer than that for
woolen, which in turn is longer than
that used to measure silk.
Steelyards are regularly made and sold
in the markets, having two sets of
pounds measured on them, one for buy
ing and one for selling I have seen a
respectable Chinese gentleman and q
fisherman quarreling over the price, or
rather the weight, of live carp, each
having his own stcelyards. which made
difference of pound and quarter in
the weight of the fish, which at the ut
most could not have weighed over four
pounds, unless, indeed, as is sometimes
the case, the honest fisherman had forced
q pound or two of coarse gravel into his
stomach.
In buying various grades of cotton.
wool one gets varying number OF
ounces to the pound. For the coarse
grades, one gets sixteen, a full pound,
for medium qualities, but twelve, while !
for the very finest, twenty-five ounces
are called pound.
Of course, such variations, regularly
established by custom. practically coun-
tcrbalance themselves, the price varying
=. ,ooor1o,oa with the y,iUht AT the !