Meh, I wouldn't worry about the dialects. Mandarin is known as putonghua, which means it's the common language used in China. Even the minority ethnic groups know it. When I was in Shanghai everyone tried to speak Shanghainese to me just out of habit, but it wasn't a tough switch to Mandarin for them at all.
I would like to add my review of the various pearl markets mentioned above. I kinda touched on it briefly. Bear in mind that although most Mainlanders can tell I'm not local, I still speak their language and the fact that I know about the bead-nukes and second generation keshis seemed to impress most of them. I only accepted prices that I thought bettered the online vendors, though I am unlikely to get the lowest possible price maybe seasoned locals would get. Going during their off-peak sales season e.g. after Chinese New Year definitely helps. In most cases they were the ones who initiated the discount after sensing I wasn't really interested unless there was a good deal to be had.
Pearl City Nanjing Road - did a whole round perusing all the stores, entered Ling Ling and Daxi for more detailed browsing. Ling Ling herself was not there. I suspect she would be more involved in the Beijing stores as the upcoming Olympics would guarantee more sales at better prices. Tons of employees following us around, but reluctant to cut the prices. I didn't see outstanding quality that I'd like so I passed on most things. I had better luck with smaller vendors elsewhere who were really keen to make a sale. Daxi was slightly better. There were a couple pearl/carved shell brooches and pendants marked at RMB380 that were down to RMB80, no negotiation allowed. My mom really liked those and while it wasn't wholesale pricing, it's still cheap retail and acceptable for the quality so we got them anyways. My guess is that the larger Ling Ling and Daxi get, the less interested they are in making sales with lower profit margins especially if they have established customers. Ru Pei Pei had some nice stuff, but a 8-9 mm pink FW AA+ was marked at RMB 8000. There was some blemishing and more off-rounds than I expected, and the coloration was not as saturated under fluorescent as opposed to the showcase lighting, so even if I got down to 30% of the asking price I would not have been as happy as I would be with my Pearl Circle 8-9 mm lavender strand purchase. That purchase was nearly effortless. There was only one bead-nuked strand in a muddy purple color. I didn't ask the price for that as the color was not ideal and I would have been hesitant to get it until the bead nucleus is proven not to be the giant clam shell. Ru Pei Pei's staff would answer questions but would not offer any additional information, like they were just totally not interested.
Pearl Circle/Village Fuyou Road (near Chenghuang Temple) - Ling Ling and Daxi were there again. There was also the usual mass of glass counters in the middle of the floor in addition to the regular stores fringing the perimeter. Quite difficult to peruse. Everyone is beckoning to you and there is just way too much to take in. Mostly generic AA or below quality. They probably do keep the good stuff until you ask for it. The potato beads caught my mom's eye so we hovered around one of the stalls. While she haggled I wandered over to the stall opposite looking not really interested. I wasn't planning on buying anything under 10 mm anyways until the owner brought out the lavender strand that I bought. I told her straight up I was not interested in the off-rounds and she brought up at least twenty more strands of lavender. The one I picked was the most saturated, and when I asked for larger ones she very honestly said it was very rare in that color. The light violets were just not lustrous enough to catch my attention. It became apparent that I knew what I was talking about when I asked for the 14K gold clasp and only looked at the most saturated/lustrous strands. Their pinks were really not impressive. We didn't do much negotiating. 2800 became 1800, plus 120 for the white gold clasp, and when we wanted to walk away, she said we'd make a deal at 1700. I probably should've been harder, but I knew it was already much cheaper than what I can get anywhere else and in such small quantity. There's nothing that beats the satisfaction of picking out pearls yourself and watching it get strung right in front of you.
Hongqiao Pearl Market Yan'an Rd and Hongmei Rd - if you can only pick one pearl market to go to, this would be it. We visited it on the last day of my 8-day kaemono daisakusen, so the cash was down. Ling Ling was there as well. We saw a white triple strand AA+ with a shell clasp marked at 900, discounted only to 800. We left and they didn't even bother to call us back. They have too much business to bother with us. Did a rough round and my mom saw the dyed AA golden triple strand. They were very honest about it being dyed, and the price was right at about 120 or something. The pink triple strand was a bit more expensive as my mom picked out AA+ pearls with matching colors, so the total was 380 for both strands after negotiation. The lady boss was very sweet and kept recommending other costume jewellery. In the meantime I asked about the lavenders wanting a price comparison, but her colors weren't saturated enough and she brought out smaller pinks eventually. The devil luster pinks really caught my eye, and she knew I knew quality, and offered to take all the lustrous pearls and put it into one strand for a little more. I liked it too much to go too hard on the bargaining - I probably could've got it for 250 or less, but I settled for 280. The yellow gold ball clasp was free though, which I was surprised at. The 14 mm solitaire was a bit of a surprise. I wasn't too interested as the blemishing was quite apparent, but the luster and color/size/shape were too good to pass up. The chain and setting were 18K white gold not 14K as I said previously. Again, 1800 might not have been the best price. I probably could've gotten 1500 if I went really hard. But I guess if the quality/price are acceptable it's not a big deal in my currency anyways.
Would I go to Weitang or Zhuji? If my voracious appetite grows I might. If only my mom would make the trip with me or I can trick some innocent friend into going.
But for freshadamas I would still stick with PP. I cannot deal with spending so much time picking through that many pearls and fretting over the matching/graduation unless it were for special colors. I nearly went crazy after picking out my pink exotic strand since I couldn't decide quite how to match/graduate them - there was still a slight different in colors from pearls from different strands, and it was not a smooth graduation in size.
I am quite interested in the blues and still on the hunt for cotton candy pink. More devil luster pearls are almost always welcome. I think the production is increasing, so we might see more in the near future.
If anyone else wants to know what else I bought, feel free to email me. I can go on forever ...
PS: There is actually a great Japanese restaurant with a clean bathroom just outside Hongqiao pearl market. That gives it a triple plus in my book. And it's cheap too.
