Qingming Festival (清明节)

April is the month for the Qingming Festival, the time of the year where one goes to sweep the graves of one’s ancestors. The actual day is typically early in April, but the tomb sweeping activities can go on for 2-3 weeks. It is also associated with the rainy season.

This year, Qingming Festival fell on April 5, a Saturday. It was raining that day, and we had heard that there were many people going to the graves, very very crowded. We chose to go to my grandparents’ grave on the following week. It was sunny that day, which was quite nice.

Before we went to the grave, Mom bought some roast pork and steamed chicken. We went to a store to buy things for the departed. In the store, there were all kinds of items made from paper: money (of many different currencies), houses, clothes, TVs, jewelry… Whatever you could think of, you could find them in the store. The Chinese believe that by burning these paper items, they would reach the underworld for the intended ancestor(s), so that they could have use of these items. It’s quite fascinating to see. Since my grandma liked to hand out red envelopes, we bought her tons of paper money. Mom also bought some clothes and shoes etc. Then she bought incense sticks and candles.

The grave was located not too far from where we lived, and the environment was quite nice. It was set again the mountain, wasn’t too busy, and pretty green.

Mom laid out the food in front of the grave, along with some cups of water. They lit the candles and incense sticks and put them in front of the grave, as well as in the back. We also put some flowers in front of the grave. We bowed to the grave to pay our respects, and finally, we burned the paper items in an iron container. The whole thing took about an hour, and then we cleaned up: put away the food, pour some water over the burned items to make sure that there was no spark, and took the trash with us.

Mom and Dad went to some other graves on other days for different relatives, but I did not go. It’s a nice tradition, I just wonder how long it can endure the modern-day society.

How Not to Get Ripped Off in Chia

Jackfruit

Last week when we were out with Mom, we saw these stalls outside the hospital selling fruits and various other foods. Gary and I caught sight of this big green spiky thing that looked like a jackfruit. Being huge jackfruit fans, we were excited. Mom saw our interest and went over to the man to ask him if it was a jackfruit. The man looked up quickly and confirmed that it was a jackfruit, but said that he was too busy at the moment to open one.

Mom came back and stood with us waiting for cousin’s car to pick us up. The man looked over at us for a few seconds and said to Mom, “Do you really want some jackfruit? I can open it now.” Mom asked him how much, he said ¥15/500g (Chinese weight, jin). I thought by opening it he meant that he would take out the fruit, like they did in Thailand, so I did not say no and Mom went ahead.

The man cut the large jackfruit into halves, and wrapped one half up for us, and weighed it. We tried to say that he should be taking the fruit out, but he said that it would not keep very long like that. We should take this half home and take out the fruit when we want to eat it. The total came out to be about ¥265 ($46)! Gary said that we were getting majorly ripped off and we should just walk away and not take it, but both Mom and I felt bad about already made a commitment and that the guy had the fruit opened, so I paid for it.

When I got home, I went online (Taobao, the equivalent of Amazon in China) to look for jackfruits. At first, I saw some selling for ¥12/500g, so I did not feel too bad. Then I saw some selling for ¥4.20! I couldn’t believe it (actually, I could)! I ordered one online for delivery a few days later, anticipating that we would be done with this one.

Oh well, Mom spent a lot of hours trying to take the fruit out. We all had a great time eating the fruits, which probably cost a dollar a piece. Sammy loved it, so did her school friends living close by. Gary ate so many pieces in one go he was absolutely stuffed!

This week, my online order came and it was one nice jackfruit, and 3 times cheaper! Feeling guilty about the number of hours that Mom had spent on cutting this last time, I did it myself this time around. It took me about 2 hours last night to get the fruit out from half a jackfruit. The fruit is riper this time and tastes really good!

So, how can one avoid getting ripped off in China?

1. Don’t look like a foreigner, especially a Caucasian.
2. Don’t stand next to a foreigner, especially a Caucasian.
3. If somehow the above two things are not possible, then be prepared to bargain really hard and know exactly what you are getting for your money. You should probably start with 1/3 – 1/2 of the price being asked.
4. Don’t have a conscience. If you don’t get what you want, walk away and don’t feel bad for the seller. I am sure that when they rip you off, they don’t feel bad for you. They probably laugh and joke about you to their friends and family what an idiot you are.
5. Failing to do any of the above, don’t shop in stores or on the streets (especially on the street). Shop online. You can find pretty much anything you want online from Taobao (except for Western OTC medicines), and the delivery is pretty fast.

Last but not least, don’t be related to me, especially on the female side of the family (I guess this one should be really easy). Dad is a little better than Mom and me. He’s not very good at bargaining, but he knows the value of things. When we told him about the price we paid, he cracked up and said that it was the same price as the meat, so we should have known that it was way overpriced! It seems that my business negotiation skills have no impact on my personal life.