Xiao Qian: "Buy Books and Fight Wisdom" Zhu Yongxin pressed:

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Xiao Qian (1910-1999) was originally named Xiao Bingqian, a native of Xing'anling, Heilongjiang. He once served as a reporter for the Ta Kung Pao, a lecturer at the Oriental College of the University of London, a professor at Fudan University, the director of the Central Museum of Culture and History, and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He is the author of the novels "Valley of Dreams", "A Chinese Journalist Looks at world war II", "Xiao Qian's Collected Writings" (10 volumes), translations of "Ulysses", "Shakespeare's Dramatic Stories" and so on. This article was published in the reading column of Xinmin Evening News, and later compiled into the "Famous Artists Talk about Reading" edited by Mr. Cao Zhengwen. Regarding reading, the author has written articles such as "Reading with a Plan" and "Forcing Yourself to Read", which tells the story of himself as a book lover, fighting with the salesman when buying books.

Recently, the TV news reported that buying things in some department stores can be bargained, and it seems that it is still a new thing between the tones. I think: First, bargaining for things is an old-fashioned one, not new. Secondly, I think it is not advisable.

I was most afraid to buy souvenirs at the stalls of famous places (such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an): it was both exhausting and time-consuming. In front of foreign guests, it is especially obstructive to look at. For the sake of national dignity, I believe it is urgent to stop it.

This reminds me of the old book stalls in Beijing more than fifty years ago when I visited the Dong'an Market old book stalls. At first, every time the clerk saw that I loved a book, he would raise the price, and after being knocked on several bamboo bars, I gradually explored a set of countermeasures. After browsing the books on the shelf, I picked up three or five books and asked the clerk for the price. At this point, the clerk was stunned. He looked at me, eager to judge from my expression which one I was interested in. But I either didn't say anything, or I picked up a book I didn't want to buy and made a gesture of love. Now that he had calculated, he raised the price of that book very high, and did not increase the weight of the other books--one of them was exactly the one I wanted.

This kind of wit naturally gives buyers a sense of victory, but I still like the later approach: all old books are labeled with price codes, and no price is negotiated.

It is good to buy books, buy general items, or fair trade, and tong so is not deceived. Bargaining is always incompatible with modernization. First of all, it's too much of a waste of time.