BEIJING ? It's while consuming my post-midnight training snack of hops and barley that the realization strikes: It's time to stop spectating and start competing.
Time to channel my inner Kobe and enter the fray. Time Chad Williams Color Rush Jersey , of course, to visit this city's famous Silk Market.
The Silk Market is a six-floor shopping center where the games away from the Games occur. It's where the competitive ? and often physical ? sport known as bargaining plays out with alternately smiling and pushy clerks, who grab you to give a "special price for a special friend" on everything from [fake] Rolex watches to Ralph Lauren shirts to Sony electronics.
This is no Olympic sport, which is just as well because even if medals were awarded, they could be fake gold. But it certainly is an exhibition.
"Your wife is very beautiful Budda Baker Color Rush Jersey , but your price is very ugly," a 20-year-old clerk named Alia says to Orland Park resident Paul Janik.
Janik is the uncle of Bradley Guzan, starting goalie for the U.S. men's soccer team and a Providence Catholic graduate. His wife, Carla, is engaged in a healthy debate over the correct price for a multicolored scarf that may or very well may not be silk.
It isn't going well. After initial smiles Haason Reddick Color Rush Jersey , Alia clearly isn't messing around. In fact, shortly after calling the Janiks "my favorite people" and offering "a special price just for you" in solid English, Alia is frowning.
"You're my first customer, and you want to kill me," Alia says. "You will drive me out of business."
As Michael Phelps knows Christian Kirk Color Rush Jersey , any dream worth pursuing isn't easy. Emboldened by the Janiks' exchange, I take a deep breath and dive into the deep end of electronics. I need a microphone for my laptop. The degree of difficulty on this purchase? Somewhere around 3.5. But no smiling clerk is going to stop me from talking to my wife and two sons when I call home via the Internet.
At the first booth at which I slightly slow my pace to peruse, I'm pulled in. A smiling clerk offers to sell a pair of "Sony" headphones and microphone for 190 yuan, or roughly $27.
Most guidebooks and market veterans suggest countering with a price 10 percent of the opening offer and work only slightly upward.
Clerks punch in prices on calculators and then turn them over for customers to counter. I offer 19. She asks if I mean "American dollars." When I say "yuan," she throws up her hands and turns her back on me.
Even I can translate this. She's annoyed.
She then asks for my final price Josh Rosen Color Rush Jersey , which of course never is. I come back with 22 yuan.
The clerk points to the next booth, which translates to: You're wasting my time. But I'm not, because as I start to walk away, she asks for my "final, final price." I move to 28 yuan.
She drops to 50 yuan. I hold at 28 and start to walk away Carson Palmer Color Rush Jersey , which is when she gives me her "yes-or-no price" of 40 yuan. The "yes-or-no" price is typically the tipping point, when the purchase either happens or does not.
Not for me, not at 40 yuan. I walk away again. That's when the clerk says she will take "35 of my money." Sold.
I feel like the original Dream Team from Barcelona in 1992 crushing Angola. A pair of, ahem, "Sony" headphones and microphone for about $5.
The Janiks also are making headway. Alia had opened their gamesmanship by stating one scarf could be sold for 450 yuan Patrick Peterson Color Rush Jersey , or roughly $65. Within one counteroffer, Alia had dropped to 350 yuan, a reduction of roughly $15.
The clerk then said further discounts would occur should Carla purchase two. Janik, displaying a steely reserve that might make her nephew proud, isn't swayed.
"Let me think about it Larry Fitzgerald Color Rush Jersey ," Janik says. "I have more shopping to do."
Paul, initially there merely as a "tagalong," joins the competition.
"Tell her to throw in a free hat," he says.
This clearly displeases Alia, who grabs his umbrella in retaliation. The Janiks Sam Bradford Color Rush Jersey , here in a contingent of 19 Guzan family members, are competing as intensely as their nephew.
More haggling ensues. Finally, two scarves for 350 yuan, roughly $25 apiece. Alia is smiling now and even poses for a picture with her customer. But she isn't coughing up any free hat. Paul does not medal in this game.
The Janiks head off in search of leather purses. I head to my hotel to test my headphones.
The best part is they actually work, at least for now. Gold!

By Wu Yilong

Putting a fresh leaf between his lips， Qiu Shaochun blows out one melody after another， enchanting the audience with rhythmic vitality and delicate expression.

“Leaves may be the oldest， simplest and most convenient musical instrument in the world，” said Qiu，51， a well-known leaf-blowing musician in China.

In his home village of Fuyang of Shanghang， a mountainous county in southeast China’s Fujian province， Qiu as a child started to enjoy leaf music.

And he soon decided to learn the art from his father， a talented all-round high school music teacher.

However， it was impossible to think of playing leaf music as a life career. So Qiu chose to major in erhu， a traditional Chinese string instrument， in the Fujian Provincial Art School in 1981 and entered the Fujian Provincial Song and Dance Theater after graduation in 1985.

The following years saw Qiu rise as an accomplished erhu player.

But he never gave up his childhood dream of leaf music， neither did his father， who bequeathed him a manuscript on the theory and practice of leaf music in 1994.

Qiu began trying commercial performances of leaf music in 1996.

The waves of applause has pushed him further into exploration and perfection of the genre.

His stage then expanded in May 1998， when he joined the Xiamen Little Egret Troupe as a soloist to tour in Spain， France and Italy.

“In addition to Chinese music， I played tunes familiar to the local people， like My Sun， Turkish March and Come back to Sorrento，. Cheap Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Wholesale College Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys From China Wholesale Soccer Hoodies China Wholesale Shirts Wholesale Shirts Wholesale Hoodies Wholesale Hoodies Wholesale Hoodies Wholesale Hats