10th February, 2001
Stall Holders Xian By Warrior Exhibition Hall. Tourists Get Noisy Greetings At Restaurant Lunch From Chinese Women Selling Paper Cut Outs.
August, 1987
The stall holders in Xian, near the entrance to the Terra Cotta Warrior Exhibition were selling models of the warriors, in a variety of sizes.
 The stall holders became immediately alert when we went to have a look, and we were greeted with a clamour of, "Hello !", "Hello !", "Hello !", as they competed with each other to make a sale, and tapping models which they held in their hand, to prove that they had been fired and were durable. Some of the larger pieces were very well made and comparatively cheap against Western standards at the time, but there was the problem of adding to our luggage, so we bought some miniatures instead ; the stall holder adding a few extra cents to the takings for that day, so both parties were happy.
I wondered whether the local people had a remarkable sixth sense or whether they had a secret code to communicate with each other, as we were certainly surprised when we went to a restaurant for our lunch, to be faced with dozens of people lined up behind a fence offering colourful paper cut-outs on strings, as we walked past them. Although it was a rather noisy greeting, the sellers were not aggressive and they all had happy smiling faces, as they exchanged comments with each other. When we came out of the restaurant some time later, everyone had disappeared, presumably having moved on to another location, or returned to their homes to rest their vocal cords in preparation for the evening arrivals
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