Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-08
Chinese Dearly Love to Get the Bet
ter Of a Bargain.
And As A RULE THEY SUCCEED
Look on Foreigners as the Easiest
Kind of Prey.
A GENIUS FOR TRICKERY


The Chinese are what may be termed
| natural traders. An English or American
merchant studies the cost of his merchan-
| disc, its quality the conditions of the mar
ket, whether the supply is in excess of
| the demand or the reverse, and from this
fixes his price accordingly. The Chinese
trader studies all these points with
equal care, but he also studies each GUS
| toner individually. He looks him over from
head to foot. makes a hasty but generally
accurate estimate to his gulibility, his
closeness or generous hand in making a
bargain, his knowledge or ignorance of the
market, and only when he has completed
his studies on these points does he name
his price. Thus it is that the price of an
article in China always depends more or
less upon the person who goes to make the
purchase.
An illustration of the fact that the Chi
nese merchant studies his customers would
be given by an examination of the prices
paid by foreigners in Pekin for such COM
mon articles as beef and mutton. 1t would
be found that every foreigner pays more
for pound of meat than any of his Chi
nese neighbors, and that no two pay ex-
actly 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 the European style
charges an ambassador two sh1llings, sec
rotary of legation one shilling and an ordi-
nary foreigner siXpence. Water-carriers
grade their monthly bills in the same way.
Battle of Brains Over Prices.
A bargain in China, no matter how trivial
the subject may be, is really an intellectual
duel. What eloquence, what vigor of ex-
preston and freedom of gesture the writer
has seen expended over the price of two
mounds of cabbage COuDle of cold
boiled potatoes! Quotations from the clas-
sizes, imprisoned appeals to bystanders, ar
guments based on justice and reason and
irreverent illusions to the ancestors of the
other man, all these come in play over
the payment of cents or less. Each party
to the transaction 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 or
measure.
My first experience in this sort of elo
quence was in purchasing, for 500 pair
OF porcelain vases for which, at the outset
of the two hours of very amusing struggle,
the dealer demanded $1,000, which was net
cost! 1 have often been trapped into the
purchase of articles which did not want in
the following manner: A dealer in 'curioS,
as they are called. old porcelains, coins
bronzes, etc, would come and offer some
object for SALE making little speech about
its rarity beautiful form and color, and
close by saying that the price was only So.
Not wishing the article at any price, l
would say:
'I'H give you a quarter of a dollar
"Oh, look at it. See how fine it is" says
the merchant.
Cant; I'm busy; 1 don't want it, 1 say
"N ell" says the dealer. Il want to sell it
to you very much. Give me So
NO. Go away"
"All right; it is yours for a quarter
Dickerins With a Cabby.
The price of cabs Chinese carts) in Pekin
Yet one can never be engaged, if the price
is discussed in advance, without at least
half an hours argument. If one is taken
without previous arrangement as to price,
and at the conclusion of the service the
proper fare be offered the driver, he will in
variably demand more. If this is refused,
the driver will generally go quietly away.
But If through ignorance or mistaken gen.
crosby larger sum be offered. the driver
flies into a rage because it isn't still bigger
throws the money on the ground and a
threat of appeal to the police or an hours
argument Is necessary before quiet is re-
stored.
A friend of mine, on a journey around the
world, stayed for few days at Pekin and
complained bitterly to me of the high prices
charged by chinese inn-keepers for rooms.
He had, SO he said, offered 81 in payment
for a small room without bedding or furni-
ture. in a wretched inn. The landlord de-
manded So for single night. A long wran-
6ie ei5uSu, anu HHdily the gentleman Of
fered $3.50, which the landlord after more
words, consented to accept. The customa-
ry price for such ROOM food not included,
is % cents a night and If my friend had
offered this sum it would have been accent
ed without much discussion.
Genius for Trickery
A book might be written upon the more
palpable frauds and tricks of which the
Chinese trader is guilty. With a goose
qoill he blows up his mutton so that the
Veriest old carcass looks fat and tempting
He puts stones into his heads of cabbage,
which he sells by the pound. He sells
dwarf orange trees loaded down with
fruit, nine-tenths of which is cleverly wired
on to branches which never fed and de-
veloped t. Or if, by accident, a hole has
been knocked in the side of an old ror-
ceiain vase, he grnds the hole into some
sort of shape, clcverly grnds, fits and CLUES
any bit of old brick into the opening. ard
then accurately reproduceS in very de-
tail and shade of color the outside decora-
ton and glass that by the application of
acid alone can the fraud be detected. The
smallness of the profit to be derived from