日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Opinion
Home / Opinion / From the Readers

Fun and fear on Taobao odyssey

By Lisa Ward | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-10-23 09:26
Share
Share - WeChat

An advertisement for online shopping site Taobao.com of Alibaba Group is seen at a metro station in Shanghai, Nov 12, 2014. [Photo/IC]

I am a self-professed shopaholic and traveler. While working in Japan for many years, I crossed the Japan Sea to visit China’s most popular tourist attractions, which included the Great Wall outside Beijing, the West Lake in Hangzhou, the Li River in Guangxi province and the Bund in Shanghai. These tours are what the Japanese describe as ‘pack tours’: whirlwind 3 or 4 day trips where you see the best of China including outlet shopping to boot. Unlike many tourists who hate to be taken on forced shopping sprees, I love them. Once in Shanghai, I spent so much time and money in a silk outlet shop that the tour bus left without me! I vowed someday to work in China so I could see and shop more.

My chance came in late 2012. One of my friends had mistakenly sent me a job advertisement to work at a small university in Loudi City, central Hunan. I inquired and was almost instantly granted the job. Although my adventurous spirit wanted to see a part of China that perhaps no Australian had traversed before, I hesitated to accept. My fears were allayed when my future boss assured me there was a ‘Walmart’ in the town where you could buy everything you could ever want! My mother and I jumped with glee: I could buy anything I needed at a fraction of the price I’d pay in Australia.

On my first visit to the rather grubby Walmart in my new town, I knew I had been seriously misled. It wasn’t the shopping mecca I’d been promised! Prices for clothes, stationary and home-wares were more expensive than what I would have paid in Japan or Australia. Selection was also lacking. How is it that China, the source of the world’s merchandise, had less on offer at a higher price? I was terribly disappointed! Shops around the university were worse: only basic everyday items for university students.

After spending almost two years relying on trips back to Australia to get my most needed items and clothing in my size, a small miracle happened. A Russian teacher, by the name of Sergei, arrived at my university and moved into the apartment next door. Russians, like Europeans and Asians, have an eye for beauty and a bargain. Although he couldn’t read Chinese, he’d somehow made a search on Taobao, the biggest online shopping site in China, and asked his students to help buy things for him. I followed suit, and soon I was whiling away the hours searching for stuff online like any Chinese. My apartment started to fill up, yuan flowed out of my bank, but the years of deprivation were over!

Don’t think for one minute that I am blind to the foibles of Taobao. I have received the wrong item, size or color. I have also received copied goods, which is of no surprise as it is estimated that 40% of products on Taobao are fakes. On the other hand, I’ve found some cheap, useful household goods and the clothes are better quality and don’t fadeif I pay more than 200 yuan per item. Taobao or 淘寶 is exactly as its name implies, ‘a search for treasure’. Sometimes you find gemstones and at other times rocks. Still, it is preferable to brick and mortar shops in China these days, which mostly disappoint Chinese and foreign tourists alike with their lack of variety and higher prices. To get more for my yuan and to quell my shopping cravings, I’ll stick with Taobao for the moment.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1994 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产欧美亚洲一区 | 日韩视频网 | 日本午夜大片 | 韩日产理伦片在线观看 | 中文字幕日韩一区二区 | 在线91 | 亚洲国产影院 | 人人插人人搞 | 免费av在| 国产呦小j女精品视频 | 天堂在线观看中文字幕 | 国产中文在线播放 | 国产内射毛片 | 在线播放日韩av | 久久久人 | 中文字幕一区二区三 | 2019天天操| 欧美国产精品一区二区三区 | 一区二区三区高清不卡 | 欧美在线播放一区 | 狠狠的干 | 东方伊甸园av在线 | 亚洲天堂欧美 | 五月婷婷久久综合 | 在线观看xxxx| 国产一级片在线播放 | 一区二区影院 | 超碰精品在线 | 九九热视频精品 | 久久久久久一级片 | 中文字幕1区 | 欧美一级特黄aaaaaa | 国产精品美女久久久久久 | 成人片在线播放 | 日本高清免费aaaaa大片视频 | 精品国产免费人成在线观看 | 亚洲第二页 | 超碰在线影院 | 欧美日韩国产第一页 | 日本a免费 | 欧美一区二区在线视频 |