Pearl shopping in China isn't for everyone

By ALECIA WARREN

Staff writer

BEIJING — Marilee Wallace wavered, staring at the price on the calculator.

"This will last you a lifetime," the pearl saleswoman persisted.

"Eh... I'm going to think about it," Wallace said.

Later, she added: "I needed a drink after that, she was pushing me so hard."

Capitalism definitely has a place in this communist country.

Folks on the tour of the New City Jewelry pearl factory in Beijing on Wednesday discovered the outing was less of a tour and, well, more of a shopping sojourn.

After the pearl company's manager gave a brief introduction about pearl quality, the tour group was free to roam the several rooms of polished jewelry cases filled with strands of bulbous pearls.

All, the manager emphasized, were subject to a special discount for this special group.

Hayden resident Nancy Vogel laughed at the manager's urgent salesmanship.

"Capitalism. I love it," she said.

Nancy ended up wearing the $160 pink and white necklace she snagged.

"I like to buy a piece of jewelry wherever we go," she said. "It's a nice memento, and easy to take home."

Elsewhere, the group glanced over the jewelry for sale, salespeople hovering inches away.

Haggling got serious in some cases, with salespeople's calculators reading up to $1,400.

"It's gorgeous, isn't it?" Veronica Garnsey asked as she tried on a chocolate pearl necklace.

Her husband, David, said he wasn't crazy about the outing.

"It's the only way I could get her on this trip," he said.

Deborah and Dale Seagle showed off the immense gold pearl necklace they purchased, expensive enough that an extra necklace and earrings were thrown in free.

"We promised the salesperson not to say," Deborah said of the cost.

Dale said the purchase had been quite an experience.

"I had no intention of buying anything. We just walked in to look only," he said. "It was worse than Mexico, with the haggling."

Madora Parmentier of Coeur d'Alene bought $30 pearls for her daughters, but said she didn't enjoy such excursions on an overseas trip.

"I could've spent this time doing something else. I could've spent four more hours at the Summer Palace," she said.

Her friend Suzanne Harrison from Redmond, Ore., also said she would have preferred more sightseeing.

"I think tours have to do these, because different people have different interests," she said. "We like to see, not to shop."

Still, she admitted, she bought $200 worth of pearl earrings and a necklace.

"For myself," she said when asked if they were gifts. "Just out of an interest in pearls."