By TANG YUANKAI

SUPERMARKETS and shopping malls are everywhere in China, but people still remember when they did their grocery shopping at neighborhood corner stores. The premises were always small, but parents who suddenly found themselves short of ingredients for dinner sent their children on an errand to these stalls without worry for their safety.

Shops like these were predominantly associated with everyday necessities, food and sundries. For garments and regular household items, people visited state-owned department stores on major commercial streets. In the countryside, every village had a “co-op” thatmet the daily needs of locals. The time of the “corner store” was also a time of shortages, and people had to make do with whatever was rationed to them. Merely having enough food and clothing was cause enough for anyones happiness.

Every Thing Was Rationed

Rationing changed the nature of daily life. Everyone born between 1950 and 1970 in China remembers frustrating shopping experiences when most goods were carefully shared out. Long queues were a frequent sight, and more often than not, when your number came up, the thing you had lined up for for hours was gone.

Many born in the 1960s and 70s now write in their blogs about such experiences. Wang Xiao documented an incident from his 1970s childhood: sent by his father to stand in a queue for farm chemicals, he stood in line for two days, only to find the pesticide was sold out when his turn came up. “I was in tears,” he confessed.

Every thing was a hard scrabble in those years. For a decent Chinese New Years meal, people had to marshal all their patience and physical strength. On the eve of the holiday, news about food supplies often dominated the newspapers. Customer service was a low priority in those times of scarcity, and shop assistants in state-owned enterprises often gave customers a cold or indifferent reception.

Rationing was not limited to food, but also practiced for cultural products like theatrical performances and movies. Tickets were distributed by work units, and though short supplies meant infrequent attendance, it never dampened peoples enthusiasm for the arts. Holidays were also observed in festive good cheer despite the meager goods on hand; people still visited relatives and friends to offer greetings, and little gifts of fruit and cake.

Rationing had to be systematic: goods were supplied at a specific time and place in each community. There were coupons for each basic necessity, one for grain, another for meat, and so on for cloth, cooking oil, farm chemicals, chemical fertilizer, even cakes and biscuits –just name it.

“These coupons were our life,” recalls Hou Hongbai, a 61-year-old citizen of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. “When I started working,” Hou continues, “I had 16 kilograms of grain rationed to me each month, and those who had a physically demanding job got a little more. The ration system provided just enough to keep people alive.” Once, Hou and his neighbors learned that by presenting a 0.5-kilo grain coupon, they could buy 3 kilos of sweet potatoes at the neighborhood grain store. They rose at midnight to line up for the special deal. Meat was rationed too, and obtainable only with coupons. “I always bought and cooked the monthly ration in one go (refrigerators were unheard of in those days and standing in long queues was too troublesome). Then Id cut a slice off to cook with a vegetable dish each day, so we wouldnt forget what meat tasted like,” recalls Hou bitterly. Coupons for cotton and other fabrics were usually saved up until the New Year, when housewives bought or made new clothing and beddings for their family. When Hou got married in 1970, she and her husbands combined rations of cloth coupons were not enough to make them each a new suit for the wedding (women wore womens suits instead of wedding gowns in those days). So the lining ofher husbands jacket ended up being a patchwork of scraps.

Beginning in 1986, people began to trade their surplus grain coupons for hardware, mostly pots and pans. With shortages easing, the use of coupons began to tail off, until around 1990 when they completely disappeared from the market. Today of course old ration coupons are highly prized and sought after – treasured items for curious collectors.

“Survival” Shopping Is Over

Beginning in late 1978, when China implemented its reform and opening-up policy, people were free to conduct commercial activities that had previously been disallowed. New products were flooding markets by the 1990s, providing a wider selection of merchandise. More shops were set up to move the goods, and state-owned stores were no longer the only option for consumers. People wanted convenience and they also had their eye on health and nutrition improvements in their grocery shopping, so were seeking safe, pollution-free organic food.

Peoples clothing remained dull in the 1970s, monotonous in both color and style. Cotton was the major material used, and black, gray, green and blue were all you could choose from. All-season wear was common, and buyers were a long way from todays values of smart, good quality brand names whose designers show a flair for fashion.

The prevalence of disposable income and the leisure time brought about by reforms gave life new meaning beyond a preoccupation with survival. Before then the average household had little more than basic necessities. By the 1970s a bicycle, wristwatch, sewing machine and radio became the four fashionable musts for any decent family. In the 1980s, the TV set, refrigerator, washing machine and camera were in vogue, soon followed by the videotape player, VCD, DVD, home video and audio system and of course, the computer.

Giving Themselves Credit

Paying for a product by installments and using credit have become practices that only raise the eyebrows of aged shoppers in China. Old Man Zhang, aged 78 this year, has a grandson who runs a busy and successful store. The young man took out loans to purchase his house and car, something that makes Old Man Zhang quite anxious. “He is spending more than he makes. He should be saving money for a rainy day.” But thats not how his grandson sees it. To him, you only live once and a person should enjoy it; to make and spend money is a way of rewarding oneself.

Most people have changed their attitudes towards shopping, from a focus on basic needs to acquiring comfort. A preoccupation with grocery shopping has morphed into managing travel expenditures and investments in real estate, from putting aside some income for future use to spending first and paying later.

Consumerism gives rise to discrimination, and market competition has become fierce. Shops go a long way to attract customers by offering discounts, issuing prizes, and giving points to regular customers. Consumers are increasingly better informed about market trends.

Impact of Foreign Retailers

By the Sanyuan Bridge close to the entrance of the international airport expressway, there stands a 6-floor European style building with a modern interior décor. This is the Beijing Lufthansa Center You Yi Shopping City, Chinas first retailing joint venture to meet the demand ofhigh-end consumers for luxury goods. Over 60 services are provided, too, including foreign currency exchange, custom-tailoring, and home delivery (all the way to foreign destinations). The services are rounded out with the shop assistants profound knowledge of the products they sell. This modern business set a fine example for Chinese local retailers.

Many Beijingers remember the Friendship Store, the first shop reserved for foreign clients in China. This iconic establishment remains in a four-story building outside Jianguomen. Different from the famous Wangfujing shopping street, this shop was designed to serve foreigners only, with goods unavailable in other stores. The interior was very impressive for the time, and the currency accepted was not RMB, but what was called “Foreign Exchange Certificates” (FEC).

Shops of different sorts and types of ownership have mushroomed since the Friendship Stores heyday. Fancy malls and department stores, exclusive shops, and the less pretentious markets and corner stores (where goods are casually displayed to serve low-end customers), all coexist to form an extensive retail network. Foreign retailers like Ikea and Carrefour often top the minds of those thinking of home improvements and groceries. They provide a comfortable shopping environment, quality goods, and a large selection of personal items as well.

“Customers come first,” Zhang Shaoxian, a senior citizen in Taiyuan, comments, “and we really feel it. The old days, when a poor selection of goods and the coldness of clerks were all a customer could expect, are gone.” In the 1960s and 1970s, he said, there were just a couple of state-owned department stores in Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi. But in 2004, with limitations on foreign retailers removed, giants like Walmart and Yansha arrived.

Home Shopping Goes 3-D

In recent years, Joyo-Amazon and Dangdang, both providing on-line shopping services, are on more than a few peoples lips.Without leaving home, just a few clicks on keyboard will bring what you want to your doorstep. Increased use of the Internet has meant increased popularity of online shopping. Low overhead means these businesses can sell goods at very reasonable prices, so even the hasty shopper can become a smart shopper.

Good service and fast delivery have pleased many virtual shoppers and their zeal shows no sign of waning. From small items like earrings, books and cosmetics, to mobile phones, computers and video recorders, anything you can imagine is available on the net. Online shopping has a very promising future.

To keep and increase this momentum, the Chinese government has formulated a series of policies to protect online shoppers legal rights. According to statistics from China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), by June 30, 2009, the number of Chinese Internet users had reached 338 million and 17.9 percent of them had made a purchase within the previous six months. Of the online shoppers interviewed, over 90 percent said they would continue to do so, and 63.7 percent of the Internet users who have never shopped online before said they would try.

And trying just became a lot more fun with the worlds first 3-D online shopping mall. After nine years of hard work, Snail Game, the first online 3-D computer game provider in China, finished construction of a marvelous platform that allows for realistic navigation of online “malls.” Netizens armed with information provided by this 3-D service can shop just like they do in a real shopping center. A virtual shopping trip offers thousands of choices, and they may pause to read up on a given product, check its consumer reports, and even try it out. If they have questions, a consultant is always on hand with professional advice tailored to the customers needs, personality and preferences. This virtual shopping mall holds interactive forums on the latest trends too,because people tend to spend more when they know more. Customers may jump into any discussion any time they want.Shopping in a virtual mall could be more social than the real thing.

And how do the virtual merchants feel about it? On August 1, Seven Days, a fashion brand name, founded its outlet in this 3-D mall, becoming its first fashion purveyor. Zhang Longjiang, CEO of the Shaoxing Sintalon Textile Co., Ltd., said the brand hopes to do 15 percent of its sales online. A delighted He Yixi, deputy general manager of Snail Game Ltd., points out that other trades, including automobile retailing, would soon join them.