or at least prices that come closer to what they should be.
Friends in my age group are still in their marriage stage, which follows the dating, living together for a bit, moving on and now wanting to really settle down period.
Flying back to Holland for all these events would be a bit costly so I have become a loyal customer of the Xiang Yang market. It’s a the walhalla for counterfeit products as well as typical chinese gifts nobody would buy at home even if they get extra money.
Lately I have assembled a number of so-called China Marriage Boxes and in case you are ever out of ideas here are the pics and the prices. Some of the prices will be close to their real retail value some might still have some space for bargaining.
We bought:
Bottle dresses – 6.25 Rmb/pc
Mini-traditional Chinese Emperor Attire to pull over a bottle. A different drinking experience for sure.
Pillow Cover – 10 Rmb/pc (price can go down, I guess)
Looks nice, pretends to be silk and actually usefull. The brighter the colors the less chance you will see it cover anything when you visit your friends
Chopsticks – 35 Rmb/set
Can the gift be more Chinese. Although some Chinese still can’t fathom the idea westerners can actually use these two pieces of wood it makes a perfect gift.
The X-mas Decoration – /7.5 Rmb/pc
It’s red rope, it’s some metallic (copper!) thing that wishes the receiver happiness, wealth and so on. The X-mas tree might be the best place for it to end up.
One thing to note though is that you might consider sending your gifts months before the wedding takes place. This way you can mail it using ships.
Mailing by air is the most costly part of the China Wedding Box. It will, depending on weight, at least double your spendings.
Please correct me by the way if you have gotten a better price or you have some other fine products that should be in the box.
Shang yang? or is it xiang yang? Are you talking about the fake market? The Bottle dresses look cute. 🙂
About shipping, do you have some info about sending by ships? Is it at the post office?or you have to go somewhere else? I’ve never tried it here. It kinda bothers me to pay about ten times the price of the item i want to send by post (airmail).
Comment by aline — September 16, 2005 @ 4:33 am
You’re so right. My Pinyin is getting worser by the day:)
If you send packages the ordinary way it will go by boat but it may take some time, or rather, some months. You can just arrange these things at the postoffice. Roughly the procedure comes down to:
1. Have the lady at the boxes counter check the content (don’t close the box yourself), she then tapes the box herself. Tell her it will be send as ordinary mail
2. In the mean time you can start filling in all the forms and one of them has to be stamped by the boxes desk lady
3. With the sealed and stamped box you go to the special “send boxes” counter where you have to rub shoulders with some other people to get attention. A tip is to just put your box on the weighing scale before anybody else does. This way it will be your turn.
4. The “Send boxes” guy will then check some forms, do some things behind his computer, ask you to pay, gives you a receipt and that’s it
5. Some months later, 2 or less, it will arrive
Comment by Administrator — September 16, 2005 @ 5:37 am
Wow! It is a good article. Very interesting and useful. Thanks.
Comment by Alexey — September 26, 2005 @ 3:26 am
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