A Tour of China in Winter
Part 1c
An Arcade of Aquarium Shops in Beijing
By Howard Norfolk
Original to Aquarticles.com
Introduction
China is one of those countries where all shops selling the same thing group
together in the same building, street or district. I became particularly aware of this
when walking around the city of Shanghai. First I noticed that I was on a street where
there were beauty salons and hair stylists all over the place. These eventually merged
into dozens of building product suppliers. Up a side street most people were selling and
repairing bicycles, and then I came to a restaurant district....
In North America, Europe and other countries, businesses tend to be spread
around, each serving its own neighbourhood, except for a few specialist categories such as
car dealers, art galleries, antique dealers and used bookstores.
Aquarium shops in Chinese cities follow the Chinese rule of clumping
together. If you find one you will probably find twenty or more. They are usually
associated with flower and garden supply shops, and there may be a few bird and other pet
dealers mixed in. Most cities just have one aquarium district, but really large cities may
have several.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each system:
- In China, buyers can easily shop around for the best bargains, a particular
item they may be looking for, and any new fish or products that only one shop might have -
a big plus. But they might have to travel all across their city to buy just one small
thing, since they don't have the convenience of a store in their own neighbourhood. Should
their shopping list include buying a goldfish, buying a shirt, getting a haircut and
having their bicycle repaired, they may well have to make a special trip (by bus or
bicycle) to four separate parts of town to find what they want - they can't just park at
their own local main street or shopping mall and get everything there. Similarly, they
can't just stop by their local store at lunchtime or on their way home from work to see
what new things they might have - each visit requires a purposeful trip, so they might
miss good new stuff or bargains anyway.
- Sellers in China have to be very competitive and must find it hard to build up
a loyal clientele. But on the other hand, if they have good stock or are offering a
bargain or a new or special item, they are sure to have the maximum walk-by traffic.
(Although due to the extreme competitiveness of the Chinese economy, any advantage they
might discover may soon be neutralised by others jumping in). They would not have to
advertise or attempt to become a 'destination store' - everyone would go there anyway.
Which system would you prefer, as a buyer or as a seller? Perhaps you will
have a better idea when you see how I found things are done in China:
The arcade:
Beijing is a very large city (population nearly 14 million) and has
several aquarium districts. Billy, my guide, has an aquarium at home, so he took me to the
suburban arcade where he shops for fish.
Up some steps and through an impressive front entrance, we entered a large
warehouse-style building. Most of it was devoted to the sale of flowers and garden
supplies, but at one end there was an aquarium section.
 
Some fish tanks can be seen at the end of the large open arcade, in
the photo to the right.
Click on photos for enlargements, then
go 'BACK' :
About a dozen aquarium shops each had a row or two of shelves in open
aisles in the middle of the floor. It was sometimes hard to tell where one ended and the
other began. Three or four larger shops had a rectangular area to themselves, against the
walls.
 
Two of the larger shops.
  
These blocks of tanks essentially show the stocks of individual
smaller stores.
I walked around the arcade, signalling to each shopkeeper with my camera
to see if it was OK for me to take photographs. None of them spoke much English, but
they all nodded consent.
I have sorted the photos into categories:
Goldfish and Koi
Goldfish were originally developed as ornamental fish in China in about AD1000, and they
are still the most popular fish to keep.
 
As can be seen, small goldfish were 1 yuan each, and larger
ones 5 yuan for two.
1 yuan is worth 12 US cents - yes, they were just 12 cents each!
Some tanks were overstocked.
  
Others held a variety of larger goldfish.
Koi are another favourite fish:
 
Small koi were only 3 yuan each (about US 36 cents).
 
8" koi were 20 yuan (US$2.41), and 12" koi or larger were
50y to 150y (US$6 to $18).
Large tropical fish
In their display aquariums Chinese people love to keep large decorative fish.
Angelfish are especially popular, and most of the shops had some. The average price of
mature angels was 30 yuan (US$3.60):
  
  
Lots of angelfish
Discus are also popular. Their prices ranged from 30 or 40 yuan to a
whopping 120 yuan (about $US15):
 
Discus (with rainbows and parrot cichlids).
Many other large fish were on display, especially large South American
cichlids such as jaguar cichlids, tilapia, Jack Dempseys, green terrors, red devils, a
variety of oscars, and the newly popular hybrid flowerhorn cichlid. There were also
arowanas, knifefish, gars, giant gouramis, red-tailed catfish, snakeheads and bristlenose
catfish, Their prices were normally in the 40 yuan range (US$5), with some, such as
large arowanas, being as much as 120 yuan (US$15):
  
  
 
Lots of large colourful fish.
  
Red-tailed catfish, Florida gar, and snakehead catfish.
I only noticed a couple of African cichlids. (But I was to see more
Africans in Shanghai).
A Chinese shopkeeper back home pointed out that one of the reasons Chinese
aquarists keep large carnivorous fish is that they can afford to, since small
fish suitable as feeders cost only a couple of cents each. There's even a bonus at the end
- if a fish outgrows its tank it can be always be eaten!
 
Weather loaches were sold as feeders. I am told that Chinese people
consider them edible too, and they are used to make a rather muddy-tasting soup.
Small tropical fish
I took more photos of the larger fish because they were more photogenic, but of
course I saw lots of colourful smaller fish, such as common livebearers, some barbs, some
gouramis, bettas, iridescent sharks, neon and other rainbows, neon tetras, etc. Prices of
these were again low - for instance guppies were 2 yuan a pair (US 24 cents), neon
rainbows and tiger barbs 3 yuan each, and red swordtails 4 yuan.
  
Lots of colourful small fish.
Saltwater
Two shops had a few marines:
 
These were the only marine tanks I saw.
Turtles and tortoises
Turtles and tortoises are commonly sold along with fish. Elsewhere (in Shanghai)
I saw a number of different species. But I saw very few reptiles, such as snakes and
lizards, in aquarium shops anywhere, and only one here (a bearded dragon). I am sure that
reptiles must be kept, and assume they must have their own specialists who do not
associate with the fish dealers.
Turtles and tortoises.
Aquatic plants
Chinese people like to keep their smaller decorative fish in beautifully
landscaped planted aquariums. There were some nice plants to choose from:
  
Some plants were sold from basins on the floor.
  
Other plants were in their own tanks.
Display aquaria
Most of the shops had a display aquarium or two, and some of them sold their fish and
plants directly from decorative tanks:
This row of display aquaria served as the outer 'wall' of one of the
larger shops.
 
I particularly liked this fisherman on a rock...
...and this scene with ducks swimming in a stream.
  
These were stock tanks, but they still looked nice.
Dry goods
Only some of the shops sold expensive mechanical equipment such as filters. They
were generally tucked away on upper shelves, as can be seen in the general larger shop
photos at the beginning of this article. There were lots of glass and acrylic tanks
stocked in an area near the back door of the arcade. Many of the shops sold dry fish foods
and chemical products.
 
Fish bowls and fish foods.
There were no real specialist shops in this arcade. Some might have had a
few more goldfish, discus, plants or fish food than others, but they also carried the
basic stocks as well, so they all ended up much the same. China's new economy is very much
a free enterprise one, and highly competitive. I am sure that when one shop starts to make
extra profits from a certain item, the others soon jump in to neutralise that 'edge.'
The fish for sale in this suburban arcade were all highly decorative,
apart from a few utilitarian plecos and algae eaters. There were very few of the less
colourful "enthusiasts' fish," such as dwarf cichlids and catfish. This must be
due to the small size of Chinese living quarters and the influence of Feng Shui. I
shall discuss this further in another article.
 
While I was walking around taking photos, Billy my guide looked for
fish for his tank at home. He spent a dollar on an iridescent shark and a couple of
platys!
Go to the next in this series:
China Tour Part 1d: The Beijing
Museum of Natural History
The whole Tour of China in Winter series:
Part 1a: Introduction, and the Tourist Sights
of Beijing (Tourist sights)
Part 1b: A Visit to the Beijing Aquarium
(Public aquarium)
Part 1c: An Arcade of Aquarium Shops in Beijing (Aquarium
shops)
Part 1d: The Beijing Museum of
Natural History (Tourist sights)
Part 2a: Xi'an and the Army of
Terracotta Warriors (Tourist sights)
Part 2b: An Aquarium Market in Xi'an
(Aquarium shops)
Part 3a: The Spectacular Scenery of Guilin
(Tourist sights)
Part 3b: A Visit to the Guilin Ocean
Aquarium (Public aquarium)
Part 4a: The Space-Age City of Shanghai (Tourist sights)
Part 4b: A Visit to the Shanghai Ocean
Aquarium (Public aquarium)
Part 4c: Jiangyin Road, a Street of Aquarium
Shops in Shanghai (Aquarium shops)
Part 5: Fish Seen in Chinese
Restaurants (Native fish)
Part 6a: A Photographic Visit to Ocean Park,
Hong Kong (Public aquarium)
Part 6b: The Goldfish Pagoda at Ocean Park,
Hong Kong (Public aquarium)
See also (after a previous visit to Hong Kong):
Tung Choi. The Amazing Aquarium Store Street in Hong
Kong (Aquarium shops)
Or, back to:
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