Proving that cultural differences run deep, a YouTube video that shows a Silk Market merchant rudely haggling with an expat has been hailed by China's top news media for her fluent English
Made by YouTube user Collin Abroadcast, "Beijing Fake Market Spree!" is a secretly-recorded video (Chinese host here) that shows his various interactions with merchants of the famous Beijing landmark.
While the Silk Market merchant featured in the video may come off as rude and arrogant during haggling, Chinese media such as China Daily have praised the woman for her "extremely fluent" English, going so far as to recommend the video for "practicing listening skills."
To any expats who have undergone the rite of passage themselves, the video shows off all the regular hallmarks of haggling one should expect at Silk Street: a calculator used as a prop, a tiring back-and-forth jostling over price, and the eventually handwave beckoning you as a "friend" to come back.
However, Abroadcast's undercover video makes special emphasis of the "carrot and stick" technique with which she tries to force him into a sale. Frequently interrupting him after asking him a question, the merchant is seen giving an exasperated look when asked to "give her best price" for a pair of Air Jordan basketball high-tops. From the video's subtitles, Abroadcast points out when he thinks she is lying and even catches the moment when she knowingly smiles to herself when he isn't looking.
Despite being held up by China Daily as a model for English fluency, the shopkeeper is tactless and shows herself incapable of carrying a conversation. After Abroadcast responds to her questioning by asking her where she thinks he's from, the merchant simply gives up any pretense of small talk by uttering a curt "No country." Logic also doesn't figure into their exchanges when she loudly complains that Abroadcast isn't being reasonable when he doesn't immediately pay the first (and highest price) by complaining: "You see, you don't wanna buy, (why) you askin' me?"
Even with all of Abroadcast's video completely translated into Chinese, China Daily can't help but admire the arrogant Silk Street shopkeeper. But then, Chinese media has always been complimentary towards Chinese that put expats in their place, a role often fulfilled by police.
READ: Traffic-Violating Expats Used by Police to Teach Chinese "Awareness of the Law"
Back in January, Chinese media hailed a police officer who arrested a Beijing expat who "pretended" to not know Chinese by reading him his charges in "fluent English." Similarly, Chinese media have paid attention when local cops use their high-level English to deal with expatsduringtrafficstops.
We certainly can't discount the rapid fluency of the Silk Street shopkeeper, but we imagine she likely won't have much to say in another situation when she does not have any leverage over her foreign customers. For that reason, it's more probable that the admiration isn't for the way she speaks English, but for the way she gets what she wants.
Beijingers looking to experience haggling for themselves can find the Silk Market here.
More stories from this author here.
E-Mail: charlesliu1 (at) qq (dot) com
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Images: Weibo