I guess there’s not a single type of souvenir, faked antique, statue, clothing, etc. that’s not to be had here: the Panjiayuan Market in the southeastern part of Beijing – which has supposedly around 3000 different booths and stalls. And 1,2,3…many people, as usual. Luckily we were a bit late (Hey, it was vacation, after all…), so it was a bit quieter as quite a few people were out, hunting for food.
It was really fun just walking around and toying with the temptation to buy a couple of souvenirs here and there. It would be absolutely naive to assume that anything sold here is a genuine antique, so it was easy to just select things after their apperances. Usually the starting prices are ridicolous, but if you follow the rule of thumb that you should finally pay around 20% of the initial price, you’ll be ok.
By the way, haggling is certainly ok, expected and even fun in such a market – although I felt a bit worn down after a while (I guess I’m too Swedish or too German for that type of shopping). But I have to admit that it took me a while to realize that you should always aim for ending up at around 20-30% of the initial price – except maybe the real upper-class luxury shops, in which we didn’t go. So I guess, I made the day for a couple of street vendors to whom a paid almost European prices for some fruit, water, snacks and stuff. Ok, sometimes I’m a slow learner….
Your most important tool? A pocket calculator to negotiate prices. The only way to exchange figures in a quick exchange of bids and counter-bids.