Shopping bears fruit

To the editor:
    It’s the end of the semester. Yeah! another year done, my students off on new adventures and my own time a bit more for me. As kids we used to wonder what it would be like to have the amount of time off that it seemed that teachers would be allowed to take. Reality is a far different picture.  The down time is long but in that short time the preparation for next year is well under way. New courses to take, new ideas to study and new things to think of introducing.
    I was asked by one of my students just what were children taught in American schools? Were they only taught the ABC’s or more? Here in China, much of the early primary education is spent on the characters of Chinese and preparation for a first career in exam taking. English as a second language is now mandatory in all the public schools and my students will be assured of jobs in the field. There is a shortage of English teachers in this nation and the appetite is voracious.
    Even though I am now in my third year, I still find new and odd things that make me as much a student as a teacher. One of them is the concept of negotiating a price for food in the street markets. I was trying to buy some fruit for a friend of mine. In the U.S. we go to the store, examine the produce and pay a set price. We may go to the farmer’s market and bargain a bit with the grower for the best price on the summer crop. But here in this country the negotiations make many other issues seem simple.
    There is a an inherent distrust on the words of people here. By law, all fruits and vegetables must be labeled according to their production area. The markings are as good as the paper above the bin. Colorful but taken with a grain of salt. The purpose of a merchant here is to maximize their income and minimize their outgo. They love foreigners. We are accustomed to paying a fair price and moving along rather quickly. With wide ranging and voracious appetites the Chinese trust no merchant. Every aspect of the produce is scrutinized and negotiated.
    It’s the poke and prod tour for shoppers. The concept of buying a pig in a poke would not happen here because the buyer would expect to inspect the poke, pig and the next of kin of the pig to ascertain if it was good or not. This also applies to vegetables and fruit. Often they will spend half a day shopping for all the ingredients for a weekend meal. While we are used to and trained to look for USDA certified sizes, forms and shapes the Chinese benefit from the entire crop coming to market. Big, small in between, oddly shaped, and out classed. Can you pay as little as possible and feed the multitude. It’s a miracle!
    You begin by picking up a piece of fruit. Turn it and twist it. Thump and smell it and heft it. Ask its price. Shake your head. Say no, too expensive. The shopkeeper is eyeballing your purse to see what his chances are of opening it and lessening the shoppers heavy load. Nothing like shaving a penny. He offers a counter offer and then the bargaining begins. Hog calling is a parlor game.
    Using a calculator you and he begin a rock and roll concert; pounding the keys; singing the refrains of customer, “Too expensive”; and, “you will rob food from my kids!” Back and forth you thrust and parry offer and counter offer, voices ringing like steel and eyes getting smaller, a moment of pure theatre for the watches who stop. There is the put down: put the fruit back and shake your head. The back turn, turn around and make as if to leave. A shrug of the shoulders and strong gestures to the sign above. A stab with a knife and a slice from a sample. Try it! This is the best. Well worth the price!
    Back and forth, Errol Flynn and Valentino fencing around a fruit bin. Put it on the scale, peel off the branches. Eyeball the perfection and make a suggestion about the competency of the merchant. Passions rise. Words short and strong. The walk away followed by the pursuit! No customer gets away with that! Finally the give in. Off goes the prize into a sack and the combatants retire with tales of how one out did the other. Peace returns to the bedlam.