Got a 30% discount on my favorite tea just by asking in Mandarin at the shop in Guangzhou

I always buy loose leaf jasmine tea from this small vendor near Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, and last month I tried using my broken Mandarin to ask if there was a deal for buying a whole jin. The shopkeeper laughed but gave me 30% off just for making the effort to speak Chinese. Has anyone else scored a discount or better service by trying a few phrases in a local dialect?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby_henderson16d ago

@ryang65 does Cantonese bargaining work everywhere there or just tea vendors?

ryang6516d ago

The REAL trick is bargaining in Cantonese there instead of Mandarin - shopkeepers get SO much more friendly when you use the local dialect over the national one. I got an extra 10% off my oolong just by switching from my textbook Mandarin to the few Cantonese tones I managed to learn.