New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-11-28
MARKETING IN CHINATOWN.
GOODS THAT THE swARMING ORIENTALs
BUY ON SATURDAY NIGHTS
A GREAT VARIETY OF VEGETABLES. FISH. FLESH
AND FOWL TO CHOOSE FROM AT SMALL
pRICEs-IIOW CHINESE CTS

town on a Saturday night is one or Ne"-f orh
most interesting sights. Even If the Monogram
quarter, owing 20 the severe vigilance Vi ''ie
police and the suppression of gambling toEether
with the closing Of the opium dens has fallen
somewhat into decadence as foreign SNOW
Mace" enough interest still remains in it. The
Celestial merchants there, agents, business
friends or perhaps rivals OF the Six Companies
rrumtle in secret doubtless, over the slowneSs
of trade but not a concern, big or little has
closed up shop Though the streets are quiet
nowadays the Acknowledged OF laundrieS III 'hc
Wilds of Long Island and in the DOMAIN ol ''I-
sey never omit their Saturday night WISH ~
their America Picking, Shanghai or fiahho"'
and they never so back empty handed
II one would see the Cinnamon buy, stocking
I'D their little lardars for the week, one should
turn into Pell-st. from 80 Bowery at 10 o'clock
n the evening. The marketing is then al us
height. From $50 Saturday night until : or /"
o'clock Sunday morning this region swar'ni
with Chinese Some come - visit friends, others
20 sun in q restaurant or al the back OF store
but by far the greater number slip in merely 10
huv Chinese dolcacies and to wander through
the narrow little streets.
John Chinaman, when marketing, can always
be told by the stout yellow paper bag twisted
ut the top that he swings In his hand Wh'' ne
Is on his rounds Of purchasing. Every s'r' o'
flesh fish vegetable, fowl and preserves goes III
this bag a little OF each. in congiomera'e mass
The bag is never well filled, for the thinainah'
alone among all the nations in America mar
kets simply for himself
Whatever a Chinaman may buy IL Is CeI'''"
that it has not cost him much, probably ~ 81
10 cents at the most. for these people kho" 'he
art Of living well on very little money. Live
badly they simply will not, and there are IhH"-
men to-day In Mott. Pell and DoyeFs s'S' 10.
rich men either who never spend less IMAM %
for their dinner 49,
Briefly 1t may be said that the Chlha'''n ."
@ marketing tour buys everything iha' 49, He
selects and has popped into his paper HdS Ger
tain delicacies this week. and others mex" Hc
has a wide range OF ediblcs for his pa'a'e' the
Chinese pr,yjsion stores being as largely stocked
az the American. II anything, laundryihah ana
merchant have even a wider choice Little
practically nothing that is. OF the west as as
tinguished from the East appears in these shop
windows and on the shelves, but the 'aI'c'y VI
Oriental foods is almost uneaains And "heh
I, &c considered that the Chinaman knows a
hundred ways Of combining many OF these
viands and condiments so to make as many
dalicious dishes Gnainly by his favorite method
bojIjng) it Will be seen that variety Is not want
ing in the poorest Oriental daily menu
All Chinese provision stores sell every klhd Oh
food but some are more distinctively butchers
than others. say, fish and flesh being lavish!y
disnlaved in the window windows while the
Vegetables are not pushed forward Others
aoain seem TO sell meat and fish only as mat
Yer OF convenience to their customers the VIII
dows being full Of vegetables, and even brlc-h-
hrac while there is a tailoring department pam
o., visible from the street, and a drug counter
IN the dusk behind prominent because OF It's
rows OF great drawers filled with Chinese herbs
The meat hangs off unostentatiously In corner
noticed il would seem, by few
A genuine butcher is located just across the
street from IT, In the window and on the couh-
49,. chino this bridesmaids wares OF flesh
Chinese meat and fish are covered with a varhish'
eomewhat like shellac, that is put on with
little brush IT is evil smelling, but the Orien-
falls seem to prize 1t highly
In every large food shop there are al least
hi, , dozen Cinnamon behind the counters In
the small shops at least three All 'hese men
.ro mariners and there are more partners VINO
do not banpen to be In at just that time. 1t
=. seldom that a Chinaman Of New-YOrk vent
ures into shopkeeplng by himself; almost never
In fact He gets ten or dozen or ms irlehdS
"a ioin IN. each contributing a fragment Of the
capital required. One of the partners is CHOSEN
.s sort Of rnanaging director, and to him Is
riven actual executive control OF the business.
rho others spend as much of their time in the
shop as they possibly can several being al
WAYS on guard, to see that this man does not
swindle or run away with the money In the
till.