It's Tough Shopping in China

Shopping in China is one of the difficult situations that you will experience due to language barrier. Most shop owners or clerks don't have any English ability. What's more frustrating is when they realized that you don't speak Chinese they won't even try to make an effort to help you. I've been to some video shops and book shops in Suzhou when the owner just left me after I inquired if they sell English movies and books. I have been to quite a lot of situations like that they would just dismissed the situation. I felt helpless and wish that I could just speak their language instantly. But all those frustrations are actually just secondary. What's more tough is when you go shopping with a Chinese company.  I usually ended up buying things that I don't like just because she likes it and insisted that I should buy it because it looks good. Aside from the fact that I don't like the style, the price is also too much compared to what I imagined. The Chinese people don't realize that businessmen lead them to believe that the price is cheap by displaying a sign of 50-90% off. If you really take a look at a new price, it is still too much. Imagine that a dress still costs 260RMB after the so called 50% discount! They would think that this is a good price, well unfortunately not for me. I'd rather go shopping alone and struggle with my few Chinese phrases about asking for the price and trying to get a bargain. I feel more at ease and at the end of the day I can say, I survived!