DAY 2 (17TH JULY 2016)

CHINA ART MUSEUM

We planned to kick start our second day in Shanghai by visiting to one of the largest museums in Asia - China Art Museum, which is located at ShangNan Road, Shanghai. It was really an eye-opening session. The building architecture of China Art Museum is magnificent and huge, and it is originated from the word of “華”, which is covering about 160,000 square meters.

Figure 9 Group photo in front of China Art Museum

China Art Museum was opened on 1^st of October, 2012, and it was previously the China Pavilion of Expo 2010. It consists of 27 exhibition halls with 4 basic themes: the “Origin of Chinese Modern and Contemporary Art”, which were mainly created in modern Shanghai. About 1,200 pieces of delicate artworks, including Chinese paintings, oil paintings, prints, sculptures, and calligraphy are on display. This themed exhibition is the first one focusing on the history of art of Shanghai and China. The second themed show is “The Exhibition of the Achievement of the Project for the Creation of Artworks Featuring Shanghai’s Historical and Cultural Development”. The artworks keep a close relationship with the local cultures. The third and fourth themes are the “Artworks of Noted Painters” and “Arts Development in the New Century”.

In order to fully appreciate the artworks inside, some basic knowledge of Chinese cultures and history would be necessary. Knowing the Chinese language would help immensely too, as most of the explanation are in Chinese language. This is definitely a barrier for those visitors who are from different language background to understand the true meaning of the artworks. However, we are fortunate to have participants from well diversified background in our 3E programme. Some of us were Chinese educated, and they assist in explaining the content artworks to teammates from different races.

Figure 10 Chilren were drawing in front of the exhibits.

Figure 10 Chilren were drawing in front of the exhibits.

igure 11 A little girl staring at the sculpture.

igure 11 A little girl staring at the sculpture.

Additionally, we found out that the encouragement of parents to their children to indulge in art activities and appreciation is rather strong compared to the traditional view on China locals. Along the way, we saw a lot of children were enjoying the art pieces, or even drawing by referring to them.  

Besides the usual paintings and sculptures, there is a section dedicated to cartoons that were locally produced and very popular through the various eras. Clearly they are proud of their local art works. There are also some outlets selling art-related souvenirs inside the museum. We think it is a very good idea to generate extra profit, as people will be tempted to buy something art-related gifts after visiting the museum. Besides, there are also some café and stalls selling food and drinks for visitors. They can have their light lunch inside without going out.

There is so much to see and to learn. We could not finish all in a day as we have to proceed with our next station- AP Plaza. It really worth to come back for second. China Art Museum is definitely one of the best Museum we have visited.

Figure 12 The sponsored ticket

Figure 12 The sponsored ticket

One thing worth mentioning is our entrance ticket was initially chargeable, but all the tickets were being sponsored by a bank. As a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, the bank sponsored all the China Art Museum tickets in that week, and printed its logo on the entrance ticket itself. This helps to create brand awareness, CSR initiative and also – encouraging more people to go to museum.

ASIA PACIFIC MALL

After we had our lunch, we headed to our next destination which was AP Mall. AP Mall is the biggest flea market selling artificial products in Pudong. It is located underground in Metro Line 2’s Science & Technology Museum station.  There are almost 1000 stores, mostly repetitive, where you can find replicated luxury goods such as clothes, silk clothes, caps, shoes, bags, watches, jewelleries, electronics and others.

We noticed that price tags were not displayed for every stall, which meant that we have to ask for the prices from the sales persons. Basically, there was no communication problem as the sales persons can speak basic English. As there were no price tags, sellers can set the price at a very high profit margin so that they can earn more from those tourists who bargained lesser. We approached a few stalls and we were given a very high and unreasonable price. For example, a normal ‘I love Shanghai’ T-shirt were priced at 80 RMB but we managed to bargain for around 70% of discount to 25RMB, with the condition of buying a lot.

In order to better understand whether buyer or seller holds more power in bargaining for the ideal price, we were divided into groups of 4 or 5 to conduct a mini assignment. Every groups have to try to bargain a product with the seller to see whether will the seller lower down his asking price to our asking price or will they reject our bargain. After an hour, we gathered and shared our experiences. We found that walk-away trick was really useful. Most of us got our asking price when we walked away from the stalls because we were still dissatisfied with the price. The reason behind the seller’s willingness to offer us our asking price might due to the high competition in the AP Mall. They would rather earn lesser than nothing. Besides, we learnt that buying in larger quantities, and as long as we hold on to the price we wanted, we will get a better price. Therefore, we came to the conclusion that buyer has more power in bargaining the price.

In overall, AP Mall is a good place to shop for cheaper products if you have very good bargain skills. We learnt that we have to be very cautious of the price when buying products not only in AP Mall but also in other places of attractions. The price also depends on the seller’s willingness to sell, our bargain skills and quality and quantity of products.

TIAN ZI FANG

Tianzifang or Tian Zi Fang (田子坊) is an arts and crafts enclave that has developed from a renovated residential area in the French Concession area of Shanghai, China. Back in history, Tian Zi Fang is the neighbourhood that was originally built in the 1930s as a Shikumen residential district. Little known to Shanghai old timers, Tianzifang has transformed itself from legacy residential architectures and factories into an artsy area housing bars, cafes, crafts shops, design studios, galleries and boutiques. It is ardently supported by crowds of yuppies, trend setters, designers and expatriates, who fall for temptation of old Shikumen houses (stone-framed-door houses) and lanes with infinite novelties. It remained very local until about 2006 when it was slated for demolition to make way for redevelopment.

Now, Tianzifang has become a major tourist attraction and has more than 200 diverse small businesses such as cafes, bars, restaurants, art galleries, craft stores, design houses and studios, and even French bistros. It is also near the Shanghai Metro Line 9's Dapuqiao Station which is immediately to the south.

Despite all the businesses selling trendy foreign goods, the area does not have the look of having been overly beautified - electricity cables are still strung overhead, and air conditioning units are obvious on the outside of the buildings. The district is different from Xintiandi, another Shikumen redevelopment in the vicinity to the north, in that it has managed to preserve its residential feel, adding to its appeal.

Although the street is not easy to find; hiding in a small adjacent, most of us failed to recognize the existence of this street at first. With keen and asking the peoples there, it was actually really easy to reach there. In there, there’s a lot of small businesses operated along the road mostly are crafts shops, boutiques and cafes.

The feeling of excitement arose when we saw many goods and items selling here which comprises of low-end and high-product that suits the preferences of the customer. Many peoples come over this street purposely to shopping mainly crafts goods for the souvenir as we can have observed a lot of tourist there. As for me, I enjoyed several experiences dealing with them in buying some stuffs. Generally speaking, most of the seller could not speak in English well, some even couldn’t understand very basic English which creates some difficulty among the participants, the non-Chinese.

Despite the language barrier we’ve encountered, we still can close the transaction with successful sale! There is a trick and magic to facilitate the transaction; we using the calculator as the means to communicate and bargain the price. As for price wise, there are some items sold in high price, some are lower. What we learnt from this shopping experience, you need to be excellent in negotiation in order to win during the transaction. The price would set even higher when the seller could recognize us as a tourist, they purposely increase the price slightly higher and some even seems ridiculous. Not to lowering any party, but some of the sellers are double standards towards the tourist and treat them a bit harsh as compared to local customers. That’s a bitter experience that one of us had personally.

In terms of their selling strategy, we being told by one of very kind owner of the shops saying that the owner could have more than one shop, even five shops in the same street but with different pricing strategy. This is indeed a good tactic to play with the customers’ perceptions. As for illustration, the first shop selling craft goods set price a bit pricy that leads the customers away to another shop which now the price is slightly lower. The customer might feel better off with the price offered by the second shop and make a purchasing decision. Just imagine if one owner could have four to five shops, it is guaranteed that the sales is there! They are really good in maximizing their profit and do not let go any single sales opportunity from any customers.

Dynamic pricing is also being implemented as strategy for them to attract more customers. The price is negotiable until an agreed point that might be satisfied for both sides. Thus, the bargaining skills is really important and number of friends you bring also does matter. The more the friends you bring to bargain and buy the same items, the higher the chances the price could be reduce. Thus, supply and demand is applied here. The ambient and the scenery of the street is very peaceful and calming which heats up the memorable experience and moments there.

In Malaysia, we have quite the same spot similar to Tian Zi Fang, and the closest one is Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman (Jalan TAR) in Kuala Lumpur. The modus operandi is much alike. In terms of language, our seller could still interact and communicate in English (International language) and Malaysian are more friendly and welcoming, not forcing when the customers do not buy (China sellers tend to force until the sales is successfully completed)