The kid that stopped us in Guilin almost had us. We believed he was a student at the local university studying calligraphy just wanting to practice his English. His English was good and his story was believable until he started talking about tea from his village and the teahouse his sister ran. We escaped him but picked up another one later that night but this guy was older so he said that he was a teacher at the university and he taught calligraphy. In Shanghai their line is “I am a art student from Beijing….” Their ultimate goal is to get you to follow them around to different stores. They are super human in figuring out what you are interested in. They watch our eyes, our smiles and listen for telltale words like DVDs, watches, tea, etc….. Their presence tends to befuddle me a little - making it harder to choose items wisely and bargain well. They are like gnats – they won’t go away. I am sure there is some psychological term for how I and other shoppers react to this herding but they are good – really good. I betcha used car salesman could learn a thing or two from these experts.
In Yangshuo they didn’t have the shopper gnats they will just show up at your breakfast table with briefcases full of Rolex watches for you to choose from or bags full of DVD’s or chase you thru the streets. One mother even had her cutely dressed less than 2 year old daughter chasing after us with postcards.
