Shanghainese is a must for anyone who wants to
shop in
Shanghai and not get completely
ripped off. You can look as
Chinese as you'd like and that might help a little, but when the words that come rolling out of your mouth are anything but fluent Shanghainese in
Shanghai, you can be sure that you aren't getting the
best deal you can. I once saw a woman
sell my uncle a map for 2
yuan or
RMB, then turn around and
sell the same map to some
foreign toursts for 8
yuan. that's a 400% markup!
Usually when I get dragged out shopping in Shanghai I find it easier to pretend I'm
mute and just letting my cousins do all my haggling for me - rather than opening my mouth to speak my shamefully broken Shanghainese. Sometimes the merchants can sense
foreigners like a sixth sense and zero in for the kill without you even opening your mouth. After all, Shanghainese are characterized as the most
sly people in all China. I will node about the time that being Shanghainese almost got me beaten up in another node... Now I've gotten smart - I say I'm from Wuxi instead when outside of Shanghai.