Chinese Blog

For anyone based in Beijing, locating low-cost electronic equipment is no sweat.  A quick trip to one of the many hardware/software hubs in the northwest part of the city will be met with endless hawkers, touts, and advertisements all competing for your yuan.  When you finally do get to a vendor whose prices are what you want, the next step is a little bit of customer-side quality control.  You may be startled or confused to hear the vendor asking you if you’d like 水货 (usually items manufactured in Hong Kong which have been smuggled over the border to the mainland- a relatively inexpensive choice) or 行货 (the real deal, products manufactured in the mainland).  Hearing this question reminds me of my exploratory strolls behind some of the buildings where there is item after item coming out of rows of 货车 (cargo trucks).  Some vendors will let you know that they can let the item go at a lower price as long as you don’t mind not getting a 发票 (receipt).  Even at a store licensed by a certain famous manufacturer in China, I was asked by one of the employees if I wouldn’t mind getting a 盗版 (pirated) copy of Windows instead of a 正版 (authentic/licensed) copy.  A funny note here, asking for Windows XP may not have the same mileage as asking for a copy of “叉P.”

水货 shui3huo4 – lit. “water items” items from Hong Kong which have been smuggled into the mainland
行货  hang2huo4 – lit. “industry items” products manufactured in the mainland
货车  huo4che1 – cargo trucks
发票  fa1piao4 – receipt
盗版  dao4ban3 – pirated version
正版  zheng4ban3 – authentic version
叉P  cha1 P – lit. cross P (this is the same “cross” as in “cross one’s arms” or “intersection”)  You’ll hear this more often than someone saying, “XP.”