Chinese merchants are traveling farther and farther around the globe.

I just stumbled across this Spanish-language blog about Chinese merchants arriving in Santiago, the Chilean capital, and setting up shop in the Alonso de Ovalle Shopping Center.

I’ll translate a little:

“The shopping center in San Diego is now replete with stands selling Hello Kitty, cosmic cats, shoes of all kinds of colors and unusual designs,” it says. “Wherever you walk, you hear unintelligible language from people with oriental features who only know how to say the size and price (in Spanish).”

“How much is this handkerchief?” a woman looking through clothing asked an oriental vendor. Faced with such a ‘complex question,’ the Chinese woman could only pull out a calculator and punch in 2,500.”

“Even though the globalized world appears to be without borders, there is a language barrier in dealing with these people because none can handle Spanish, which makes the relationship a little anxious between clientele and vendor.”

Certainly it’s ethnocentric. I can’t help but put the shoe on the other foot and think of the bravery of Chinese merchants traveling to regions so far away and trying to make a living without understanding the language. My hat is off to them.