The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-08-24
SHOPPING IN CHINA.
WELLS AND WILD GESTICULATIONS
SEASON THE BARGAINING.
The Noisy HagEling Over Prices
Turns the Shopping Quarters Into
VeritabIe Pandemonium - Sign
boards and Their Many Uses.

Aurhb tHe shopping quarters INTO
VeritabIe PandemOnium - Sign
boards and Their Many Uses.
Although the peculiar civilization of the
Chinese has failed to provide the shops
of the country with plate glass windows,
mahogany counters, huge mirrors and the
seductive shop walker, yet the tradespeo-
| pie have methods of their own for engag-
| ing the attention of the public worthy of
notice if not of imitation. To begin with,
the competition which forces down the
| prices of goods in this country is I'M
| known i'll China.
The manufacturers, who own most of
the shops, to protect the interests of
themselves and their workpeople, insist
on fixing all prices and when attacked
with fits of greed combine TO raise the
price lists, which, to prevent the shop
keeper overcharging, are posted up in the
shop. All such shops belong to what we
should call union.
In free houses the price given for an ar
| ticle is the result of prolonged haggle.
| The Chinese are such experts at bar
gaining that shops of good repute public
ly declare that they sell only at the ad-
| vertised price.
! Why IA Chinaman when haggling should
shout at the top of his voice is not clear,
but he does, consequently the vocifera-
| tions of several hundred purchasers and
the equally stentorian rejoinders of the
tradespeople render a Chinese shopping
! quarter, when the public are abroad, u
veritable pandemonium.
! The amounts in dispute are seldom
] 81, hale Il,
| parties scream and gestcuate as if their
I entire fortunes were at stake the din APP
pearing to be much louder than it really
is owing to the narrowness of the streets,
which are seldom more than few feet
| across.
Shops which decline all abatement have
q signboard inscribed, chen pu URIC
! CHR" which means fixed price"
Business in China being conducted on
/ principles mostly unknown to the outer
| world, it is not strange to find that shops
and warehouses are never known by the
family name of the proprietor. They are
distinguished by some sign generally the
invention of the owner, who will hold
a long and anxious consultation with
his family and friends in order to obtain
"hao." which shall embody some felici
tous idea.
When new shop is opened or a new
conner comes into possession, the public
are made aware of what has taken
place by long crimson streamers hanging
from the signboards. The friendliness
which exists between the shopkeeping
class and their patrons results in devel-
opments of which we know nothing in
this country, We should smile at the
tradesman who affixed a notice in his
window saying that his wife was not
very well that day" or that his father
was dead" In China, in addition to
such written announcements, increased
publicity is afforded by white or ash
colored streamers being suspended from
the signboards.
The sigubOards are also used to record
the death of an emperor. This is done
by putting the board with its letters in
gaudy red and gold into mourning. The
paper with which the sides of the board
are covered is not black, as it would be
with US. but green, and in order that
business Shall not be interfered with the
green paper is dotted all over with the
houses name But the loyalty and grief
of the shopkeeper are testified to by two
streamers, on which is inscribed, "kus
kshio," the kingdom mourns."
On the occasion of a new ruler, the
mourning streamers are changed for red
ones. color in China symbolical of joy.
The display Of bunting outside Chinese
shops always strikes the European as
strange, but it serves its purpose.
We shall have our work cut out when
the time comes to destroy the popularity
of the candle in China. This is how the
candle dealers, highly imaginative
body 1t would seem, invest their dips with
poetry. After detailing the varieties they
deal IN, the announcement proceeds: AT
eventide the mandate came from courts
of Hau. On hearing that mighty name,
the scholars hurried to the tower and
studied there by candlelight."
Dyers in China may be expert, but
they are not modest. I'VE deal in king
fisher, and dark blues, also double blacks.
We rival in our workmanship Celestial
manufacturers"
Another dyer, after declaring that the
public should only deal at the right sign,
allows them to infer that he is alluding
to his own, by stating that his is the
double headed (chuang feng) phenix"
Although there are over 100000 shops
In China. it is safe to say no two signs
are alike.
As the Chinese are a strange mixture
of good sense and superstition, strange
scenes are to be witnessed in the shops.
The materials of which a prescription is
composed having been made use of, the
refuse is carefully deposited in the middle
of the street by the shopkeeper, and his
customer, in the belief that if the mess
is shifted at by the horse on which the
spirit of the "Pien-i star" rides, the re-
suit will be certain to be favorable to
the patient. The "T'ien-i-star," or "Ce-
lestal cure" is invariably believed to
prowl the streets nightly in order to
watch over those who have been ailing
and sick.-Pearson's Weekly.
NEXI nQQR 10 NEAIA