Buying Chinese in China

[rhetoric]

This is a long-shot, but I figure it can't hurt to ask.
I have been interested in the new Eastmans (new at mandos but well respected in the violin business and pretty good early reviews) and my folks just happen to be going to China (Shanghi and Bejing)and I'm just curious what the possibilities are? I know, "it's a big country" and who knows where the factory is, but I'm guessing they have shops and such in the big cities to attract the tourist dollars. Any world travelers had any experience w/ retail instruments in China (Eastman or otherwise)?

Paul

[rhetoric]

The factory, I just found out is in Bejing, if that helps.

[rhetoric]

OK, so I could have done a little research BEFORE posting -- just get off me, man! Somebody asked my question about buying in China at the Eastman forum and they said they aren't set up to do that yet and they only export. Oh well. I'd still be interested to hear about purchasing other Chinese made in China. Can you tell I'm really cheap?

[Burbs]

I have looked for mandolins in Shanghai a few times. I could not find any at the local music stores. I did find some very old banjolins at the antique markets, but they were no-name brands that were very trashed. But other than that I could not find anything. Also, there is an ice cream flavor in China called "mandolin". And one of the workers in our factory there is named "Mandolin"!
I did not get a chance to look for mandolins in Beijing. There was too much history to see in my short time there.

[tiltman]

I thought you were talking about food!

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Magnus Geijer]

I suspect it migh be troublesome. Mandolins produced in China are made for exporting. I've had a similar experience moving to the U.S. and going to the local grocery store trying to purchase crawfish. Every other box of frozen crawfish in Sweden is from Louisiana, but here you can't find them even at the specialty food stores, except for the ones that have already been cooked with cajun spices. The only ones I've found are five times the cost that they are after they've been shipped across the Atlantic. Go figure.

[JeffS]

Where in the US are you looking for fresh crawfish? I see them in the grocery store, but only certain times of the year. I live in the south east though so that helps. As for buying a mando in China, they're all made for export. You'd probably find a decent violin since that is a popular instrument played in China. Maybe you could have your parents pick up one of those and use it for a trade in the States. Sounds risky to me though.

[rhetoric]

Risky? You don't trust my parents to pick a good mandolin? My Momma grew up in East Tennessee and she knows chop and tone! :-) Actually, I just figured if it was a possibility and I could specify the particular instrument I wanted... but it looks doubtful. My daughter is going to Eastern Europe this summer and I thought the same thing, but I wouldn't really trust her judgement to pick out a fine mandolin. Never thought about the "trade up" angle. Hmmmmmmmmm. Thanks for the feedback, folks.

[August Watters]

I doubt if the trade-up idea would work, because there are so many good Chinese violins in the US already, and the prices are cheap. Unlike Eastern Europe, China has no tradition of #small builders producing bluegrass-style mandolins a domestic market -- so I think you'll find just factories producing them for export.

Now if MY parents were going to China, I'd ask them to be looking for some of those cool traditional Chinese stringed instruments.

August W