karenkay

use this link...

http://www.wku.edu/%7Eyuanh/AudioChinese/shopping.html

then scroll down to 'too expensive.'

this is a very helpful phrase to get right. i could spell it out for you phonetically, but it's better if you learn it with the tones in the right spots!

moondog

you don't. i am not using my normal computer so i can't provide chinese, but there are much better things to say in that situation (english equivalents):

-you speak eight ways of nonsense
-ok, let me check with the 8 other people that are selling the same handbag and get back to you if your price is the best
-60 (just say the number over and over and over)
-your eyes are very pretty
-aren't we friends?
..........

Vulcan

^

Tman777

In Shanghai, assume that whomever you're dealing with is a cheating, conniving liar and you should be fine. Essentially, don't trust anyone you come in contact with. Everyone's goal is to extract as much money from a visitor as possible. Oh yes, and if you are cheated, remember that there's virtually nothing you can do about it. Enjoy your trip.

PTravel

Wow!

First of all, this poster is completely, utterly and totally wrong.

However, what a sad, pathetic person!

Tman777

Perhaps an example will help enlighten PTravel and provide some evidence that I may not be "completely, utterly AND totally wrong" This is just one of several I could provide:

At the end of your travel in a country do you like to exchange your remaining local currency into something more useable, like say US dollars? Well the Chinese erect so many barriers in your way that it's nearly impossible to do so when you leave China. Even if you can find all of your documents indicating that you did, in fact, exchange dollars into Yuan (how else would you get them?), the communists will only allow you to exchange back 50% of what you have receipts for. The result, as you can observe by just standing near the "Exchange Counters" in the airport, is that many, many visitors are forced to take home totally useless currency.

moondog

your example hardly supports your previous contention that all chinese strive to cheat foreign visitors (a remark which, even if strongly qualified, would still be offensive).

tmk, prc currency has never been openly convertible; currency controls are designed to help promote stable development and prevent capital flight. to this end, they have been effective.

many economists and bureaucrats predict that the current system will start to evolve into something more market-oriented within the next six-months (in addition to improved convertability, expect a modest revaluation)

MTW1000

I think the taxi situation in Shanghai is the best that I've seen anywhere in the world. The taxi's are cheap (about 250 RMB to downtown), clean and all metered.

You'll have no trouble at the airport in Pudong. Don't expect English from the taxi drivers, so having the exact address you are going to written in Chinese is VERY helpful.

PTravel

I'll read your example, but it is unlikely to convince me that my personal experiences, derived from many, many visits over more than a decade, are wrong.

Actually, no. We draw only as much cash as we need from ATMs, and what little we have left at the end of a trip we like to keep for tips/taxis/sundries for when we return. This is true for all our international travels, not just for China.

Yep. So? The PRC controls currency exchange, and wants visitors to spend money when they come. Besides, what's so hard about keeping your receipts? Incidently, the PRC is Communist in name, only. Totalitarian, yes, but in many ways the PRC is more capitalist than the US.

And how does this, in any way, support what you wrote? You said:

"In Shanghai, assume that whomever you're dealing with is a cheating, conniving liar and you should be fine. Essentially, don't trust anyone you come in contact with. Everyone's goal is to extract as much money from a visitor as possible. Oh yes, and if you are cheated, remember that there's virtually nothing you can do about it."

Sorry, I'll stand by my comments.

PTravel

I agree, but for one thing -- they drive FAST! Clearly, they're intent on doing a volume business.

pegasus8228

i concur. you are much less likely to be cheater by taxi driver in china (in most major cities) than in most european countries (i am comparing to paris, lisbon, not the notorious prague taximeter).
i have never seen a tampered taxi meter.

the taxi meter is very well enforced, in fact, in all large cities. once i reminded a taxi driver about the meter halfway in the trip, he was so scared that he only asked me for what the meter displays (which was about 60% of the total fare)

yes, some driver may take a small detour, to cheat you for 20% more occasionally. (i found this in beijing, and in shanghai only many years ago) you just have to know the rough number and ask for a receipt if in doubt. the penalty for cheating is quite severe and that it works in most cases.

in shanghai, there are also branded can companies like Dazhong (light green cars), they are the best ones.

BTW, i recommend also trying the Mag-lev... and even its subway when you move around the city later.