To bargain or not to bargain

Tonight I sat down at my computer determined to complete at least one personal statement for graduate school. I find it quite difficult, however, to flip the switch and return completely to English, especially something resembling artful and expressive written English. Not to mention that to do so I've got to put myself in a mindset where next year does not seem completely abstract. So I'm going to do some warm-up writing here. It's about time anyway.

I've mentioned that things are cheap here, particularly food and services. I can eat quite easily, especially within the university campus, for $1-2 a day. Mostly I average a bit more than that, but still, the cost of each meal is almost always under $2. In other examples, it costs 1 yuan (13 cents) to ride the bus, and 5 mao (1/2 a yuan) for a simple clothing alteration.

Prices on the street are rarely fixed, and often in stores are negotiable as well. The question this has been bringing up recently is when and how adamantly I should bargain. I've thought this over before, most notably in Madagascar where things were even more inexpensive and bargaining was an even bigger deal. When the first price quoted is an amount you're easily willing to pay, should you bargain it down anyway? If you know someone is trying to get more money out of you than the going rate, but it's still not very much to you, and you know they need the money, should you just pay it?

Example 1: Pay toilets
Last month while visiting Bing ling si caves, I knew it should only cost 5 mao (1/2 a yuan) to use the bathroom, but the attendant tried to charge me 1 yuan. I called him on it and announced that I wasn't going to use the bathroom then if it cost that (I was paying for two friends as well so it seemed a little bigger of a rip off than it sounds). The attendant then agreed to the 5 mao rate and let us go. On the way out, a German tourist asked me what I'd been arguing about and I explained. She scolded me for it, saying that I could easily afford the 5 mao(about 6 cents), which was worth nothing to me, and should have just paid it.

Example 2: Buying fruit
I know you're supposed to bargain for fruit from stands on the street, but when I'm discussing whether a pomelo should be 3 or 4 yuan, or whether my collection of bananas and mandarin oranges should cost 8 yuan or 10 yuan, the struggle for cents starts to seem ridiculous.

Example 3: Violin lessons
A friend's family helped me find a violin teacher, and I agreed to the initial price of 60 yuan (about $8) for an hour lesson. How could I bargain this price when it actually is worth this much to me? How could I bargain this price when I could make twice as much to teach little kids English?

Sometimes I'm just not up for bargaining and accept whatever the vendors say. Other times I'm in a stubborn mood and refuse to budge on my price, walking away empty-handed or getting into a bit of an argument. I think I've come to the conclusion that it's important to bargain, most of the time. Bargaining is in the culture, as part of learning how things work here, and even showing respect for this custom, I want to understand when and how people bargain, and emulate it to some extent. But once I've bargained some, it's not worth haggling over a few pennies. The German lady was right, 6 cents is not much to me. On the other hand, I don't think the attendants or fruit vendors mind - they're used to it, they know what the going rate is, and they won't let you get away with any less. Plus, I'm not here as a tourist, I'm here for something of a long-run, and my 'income' is not a foreigner's income.