I decided my parents needed a little taste of Chinese consumerism, so for this day we went to the Wangfujing shopping street, and Beijing's world famous silk market. Wangfujing is located, as one might expect, at the Wangfujing subway stop. Wangfujing road itself is a combination of Western and Chinese shopping. It has tea shops, Chinese restaurants (or, if you're from here, I suppose you just call it a restaurant), and traditional Chinese snack stores. In between those, however, are Western jewelry stores, clothing outlets and fast food. About half way down the road you will find the 小吃街, the traditional Chinese snack street, branching off to your left. Here you can find all the exotic food your foreign self would expect to find in China. Including, but not limited to; snake meat on a stick, scorpion on a stick (both large and small), squid on a stick, silk worm pupa on a stick, and seahorse, on a stick, of course. Walking down the street is to be verbally assaulted by a dozen people who speak enough English to yell, "Lady!", or "Mister!" as they try to get you to buy their wares. I don't blame them at all, but it is a bit overwhelming. I use the word "wares" because their products extend from remote control helicopters, to lighters, to Beijing duck cooking kits, to wallets, and on, and on, and on. It is a nearly endless sea of trinkets. If you walk across Wangfujing road, however, you will find something else entire. You won't find any cheap lighters with Mao on them, instead you have Hugo Boss, Armani, Burberry, Gucci, Juicy Couture, and even a BMW "Lifestyle Store". In other words, it is every luxury brand under the sun, plus Nike. It is a monument to western consumerism on a scale I have never seen. It truly is a cliche by this point, but the dichotomy between that mall and the old snack street across the street is absolutely fascinating. I briefly considered buying a pair of shoes from Ecco, then I realized that they were nearly $400 thanks to China's luxury tax. I passed on those.
Our next stop was, once again, somewhat of a mix of the old and new. The 秀水市场, Beijing's famous silk market, is home to a knock-off version of anything you can imagine. All the yelling of "Lady!" and "Mister!" are turned up to 11 once you enter the aisles of the silk market. The quality of the fakes varies widely. I've seen Polo shirts and Luis Vuitton purses that look exactly like the real things, but I have also seen stuff that's not even close. Take, for example, the “Ferrari" merchandise that is available (Or "Forreri”, as I have seen it spelled). The traditional prancing horse symbol of my favorite car company has been slapped on pretty much anything, and the method here is "the more the merrier." Even better, the horse is often replaced with what is best described as a reindeer. Wandering around with my parents was an interesting experience, as the three of us were prime targets for all the shop owners. Each floor sells something different, and there are about 7 floors. It is, in the words of Karen, "Overwhelming." I managed to do a little bit of bargaining, much to the pleasure of my father's wallet. If you take the first price you are offered at one of these stores, you are a fool. These people aren't out to rip you off, they just want to make all the money they can. I got myself of the nice polos, and a new pair of Nikes. Karen bought herself a jade turtle from "Cathy's Jade." That was an interesting experience, as I was caught between my nervous mother and a kind, but overly enthusiastic "Cathy." In the end, we got our turtle. I will end by saying that my dad described the experience as "American consumerism on steroids."
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