Wheelin' and Dealin' in China

We’ve never seen a room in China that has wall-to-wall carpet and for some time now we’ve wanted an area rug for our bare-floored living room. When Dave was out on errands the other day he called me on the cell phone with a tinge of excitement in his voice. “There’s an old man laying out carpets to sell along the side of the road. Are you interested?” So I headed over and Dave and I picked out the rug we wanted. Now being Americans, we’re somewhat of an oddity here and the Chinese become quite eager to gather ‘round when we’re bartering to buy something. So the wheelin’ and dealin’ began with a little audience of a dozen quickly gathering around the rug-seller, the rugs and us.
Dave carries his Chinese cheat-sheet wherever he goes so he can use some basic Chinese words when he’s buying while I just write the number in the air or enter it on the calculator the seller keeps handy for such purposes. When you ask the seller how much something costs, custom is he says a price about twice as much as what he expects you’ll end up paying. So Dave countered the rug-man’s asking price with a figure somewhat below half-price. The rug-man responded with a little dramatic tirade indicating it was a ridiculous offer. So he counters and Dave counters his counter. In the meantime, our audience is smiling and chattering away in Chinese (of course) their reaction to each offer. In the end, we agree on a common price and as the rug-seller rolls up the carpet and Dave hands him the money, Dave pantomimes to him, “Now you should share some of your profit with all your friends here who have helped you reach a price we’d pay.” To our surprise, the old man began handing out some of the bills Dave had just given him! As we walked away, Dave carrying our purchase over his shoulders, we left the happy crowd and couldn’t help feeling we’d just provided some great entertainment for our Chinese neighbors.