Super Size This: Alcohol

Alcohol has always been a big part of Chinese culture, especially when it comes to business relationships ('guanxi' meaning relationship is a buzz word you'll often hear when describing business dealings in China). Now with more money and more alcohol varieties, the need for alcohol - and good alcohol - is amplified. Just look at my grandpa's liquor stash, which is really half of it.
Alcohol is considered perfect for gifting, socializing, dining, and impressing. And its extra impressive if you can drink a lot and don't get drunk. It's actually culturally embarrassing to be seen drunk. Sure makes me want to test out some of my drinking buddies if they can be the last man standing (Gary? Arnold?).

Mystery selling technique: day 5 (and I find a man)

They finally started to sell stuff! After an hour speech about how senior citizens should feel empowered to make their own decisions, it set the perfect stage for scamming the elderly to make their own purchasing decisions. First up was a jade pillow cover that supposedly healed all of your illnesses. It was 300 RMB, when it was obviously fake jade that was worth maybe 30 RMB. It didn't matter because there was 'limited' time and quantity, so the audience went nuts fighting for this piece of crap. My grandma really wanted one but thankfully my grandpa wouldn't give her money. While they were busy selling more over-priced items, one of the staffers was busy schmoozing with me telling me that my grandparents looked healthy for their age, I was a good granddaughter for accompanying them this early in the morning, and that I looked like I was very well educated. So I told him I was a Ph.D student, he responded, "That's what I thought." At the end of the event, they handed everyone free toothpaste (as pictured) and I could've walked away with a boyfriend. Too bad he would be useless in the US cause my grandma really liked him.