Generosity or Pride (a story in the historical present)

Is there any way to edit a post on the community board, do you know? (I notice a couple of mistakes - I should go slower.)

bodawei,

Yeah mate.Sorry I've only just seen this now [been ducking in and out].On the community tab just click on posts and on the right of the post you want to edit there will be a little pencil icon...click on that and then edit away and republish.

Ah - thanks. There's nothing like being told more than once to make it stick. I would like a little wiki on the site somewhere that has all these instructions together. (Maybe it is there?)

bodawei,

why do you doubt that they are hoping for future custom ? I mean I can see in the case of a laowai how this possibly could seem unlikely,but maybe it is a general habit to throw in a little extra..a nice touch.

Maybe you are right about the margins and he hasn't thought about it that closely.That is maybe on average most folk buy more than three at once and he's in the habit of always throwing in one extra [like a bakers dozen].

Hah, I like the baker's dozen idea. Wasn't that originally because of Government regulation? Or at least guild hall regulation (probably much the same thing?)

I feel I can't generalise about 'hoping for future custom'. It is often said that Chinese 'like their money up front'. This is possibly because of a general lack of trust about anyone outside your inner circle. Perhaps if you go to the same business for a very long time you become part of the inner circle. But, generally, watching Chinese people at a market is rather disconcerting. Most transactions are not overly friendly - it seems that an argument about something is commonplace. Then watching the different classes at work is challenging for an Australian - well-dressed people are often downright rude to the vendors.

Coming back to the subject of 'throwing in a little extra' .. I am not sure (that's why I posted this.) Hopefully some 中国通 or native speaker will help us out?

Baba beat me to it. I was thinking that perhaps it is common practice in order to give the illusion of generosity. I haven't come across too many freebies in my neck of the woods in Shanghai. Maybe I don't send out the 'give me free stuff' vibes.

It seems to me my old Chinese professor (a Chinese man who teaches philosophy, not Chinese) told a story of a place where the locals always bartered. Nothing strange there, except... the sellers started low and the buyers started high. Each was so goodhearted that both wanted to give the other more than they what was expected. In the end, the price ended up the same as it would have been if they had bartered in the normal, selfish way. Anyone else hear this story?

The story rings a bell - but I can't remember where I heard it. It is a lovely myth - no-one does myth better than the Chinese.

The trouble with the 'illusion of generosity' theory is that it is no illusion - vendors regularly give away a lot of their produce, needlessly. Barb suggests that they have a little fat but the facts speak otherwise - the farming sector has been set upon for most of the past sixty years. They don't owe anyone any favours. The current Government is starting to remove some of the inequalities.

The deal has already been settled when they make the concession. I feel surprise and amusement; I don't feel grateful (cf. my story how this can happen after a heated argument about price.) But here's a thought - if this is long-standing practice, the economist in me tells me that it is built into the price. The price is arrived at in the reasonable expectation that the vendor will then throw in some extra. Only kidding :-)

Maybe it is a characteristic of the West - I can't imagine it in 'dog-eat-dog' Shanghai. :-)

"it is built into the price"

...oh yeah,I more or less assumed that.

Thanks xiaophil..nice story.I wonder where it comes from.I'd like to have a go at that ..sounds fun...but I wouldn't be too keen doing it for sheep stations.

This story reminded me of a line in the new Freakonomics book by the superstar economist Steven D.Levitt and his partner in crime Stephen J.Dubner talking about when they were 'asked' to write a book. 'We discussed how the money should be divided. Almost immediately we came to an impasse, for each of us insisted on a 60-40 split. Upon realizing that we each thought the other guy should get 60 percent, we knew we'd have a good partnership'.

I'm a sucker for this self-deprecating kind of humour but I can't help but wonder what really went on. And who came up with the joke, etc.

Dubner is now doing Freakonomics podcasts - the first one I listened to is about the obesity epidemic in the United States. Levitt takes Dubner to a truly amazing restaurant in Chicago, KFC I think it's called. Then they go to a place that sells 'ice-cream burgers'. Remember that American guy on these boards who complained loudly about the fat in Chinese food?

'ice-cream burgers' ..ha ! Still I'd love to try at least one. Yeah, I remember. Of course you know the problem here is not far behind the US.

great thought kimiik.The average weight of a carrot is 75g ,so even if they were good sized carrots at 100g,you've paid for 500g and got 400g,but you think you're a carrot ahead ,so it's a win win situation,everyone's laughing and happy as larry.

Hi kimiik

Wow - that is amazing. Reminds me of Korea where they don't weigh anything at all! (My experience is Seoul.) So many different behaviours come to be accepted by people - I am always fascinated by our flexibility.

But in China you can usually see the scales. I couldn't see the scales on this occasion (turned to one side) but ... oh, I see a problem. If Barbs is right and the average carrot is 75g I may have mis-represented my story above. It was probably priced per 斤 and I bought 一半斤 .. It's that or I have been scammed! :-) I'm going to have to edit my story above and risk my reputation as an amateur social anthropologist. [Note to self: take a book and write things down you want to broadcast to the world.] But the essence of the story remains.

I can see that I need a rider saying 'Based on a True Story'!

呵呵,sorry mate,just joshing around,you know me. :) .Yeah,it's still a good story.No need to edit [but btw,you know how replies can get lost...I did later on find and reply to your question about editing above]

Yep, I saw, thanks a lot mate. I'm editing away like mad now, re-writing history. (I don't think that I'll ever forget that carrots are about 75g, and that they're spelled with a 萝 not a 罗.) It's interesting that we can go back and change something we wrote - I've got a problem with that. I think that there should be a record somewhere of the edits. Maybe approval should be sought. You can see how living in China has given me new respect for law and order. :-)

hehe,

well i'd say 罗 is obviously going to be the phonetic and they've just thrown a grassy radical on top to make it look like the head of a radish.Interesting how these vegies morph because 萝卜 then becomes a turnip and adding a beard makes it a carrot.

I think that turnips have 'beards' too. Possibly not as impressive as carrots' beards?

Your character analysis is outstanding BTW, Mark? will be looking over his shoulder.

I always have a bit of trouble with luobu (carrot) and boluo (pineapple.) I have a panic attack when talking about either - I'm thinking: 'have I got it the right way round?' As an aside I think China needs to adopt Latin names for fruit and vegetables. There is little consistency from place to place. And multiple names; they can't even agree what an orange is - I think I counted about a dozen different words for orange. They are currently selling small 柚子 (pomellos) here, calling them 橙子 (oranges) - maybe because they are a similar size and shape.