Shopping trip brings back memories of old times

A weekend visit earlier this month to a duty-free shop near my apartment in Beijing rekindled my bitter-sweet memories of the store about two decades ago and showed how fast the shopping behavior of the Chinese has changed since then.

It was in the early summer in 1992, just before the Olympic Games in Barcelona. I was back from the United States after nearly a one-year exchange program and was therefore qualified to buy some imported goods at the shop, which was exclusively for those who returned from overseas.

I bought a 25-inch color TV, a Japanese brand, and some other small electronic items. I used up all my savings from my meager stipends, but I was still quite happy because I would not miss the live telecast of the Olympic Games. At that time, supplies of products such as color TVs were still in short supply, particularly so-called high-end imported products.