Today, we went shopping. Shopping in China seems to be very different than the US.
We started the day at the "China Market". To me, this felt like a tourist trap. While interesting, I think of myself as a very practical person. I generally don't buy something unless I feel it has a practical use. At this market, there were tons of knick-knacks: sculptures, jewelry, paintings, scrolls, novelty gifts, etc. All of these represented Chinese culture; however I already own a lot of these things at home.
Next, we went to another market. This was heavily Western influenced. It was as big as a mall, but it was outdoors (think of a strip mall, or a giant outlet mall). Here, everything has a set price as opponsed to the typical bartering system. The prices were also comparable to US prices.
This was different than the US because a few business had a shop location about every 1 block, instead of having one or two stores in the whole 'mall'. There were also smaller businesses that only had one store in the whole market.
The 'food court' was more like a 'food street', and most of the food you could buy were 'on the go' foods such as kebabs, sandwich like things, and stuffed bread (like curry puffs if you've had one).
Edit: I actually have better pictures than I thought I did, so here are a few:
Chinese Market
A store owner with his dog
A mother showing getting a cute picture of her daughter
Eat street
I just edited the post with pictures I found out I had.
The Chinese students have been very helpful with our shopping, but even when they are not there we have managed to bargain down prices to what at least we think is a moderate deal. It's been a good experience so far.
In the market behind our hotel, all of the shop owners are very honest. I know enough to know numbers, however some of my friends do not. I saw someone hold up a fan of money to the seller, who respectfully only took what she meant to charge.