Chinese supermarkets

There's quite an amusing article in today's FT about foreign supermarkets setting up shop in China. Apparently, we Brits go on weekly supermarket trips while the French visit out-of-town hypermarkets for basics or big ticket items but go to their local delis, patisseries and greengrocers for the rest. The Germans, meanwhile, go to supermarkets to buy bargain champagne, and presumably beer. The Chinese, on the other hand, are passionate about freshness and cheap food. Their hypermarkets have tanks of perch, eels, turtles, bullfrogs and crabs all swimming together. Customers can either net their own in a bag of water or have it killed on site.Most customers at Tesco's Shanghai shop arrive on foot or by bicycle or take the hypermarket bus service which is popular with pensioners in summer who like to visit the air-conditioned supermarkets to escape the stifling heat. The range of goods sold differs widely across the country. In the north they sell shampoo by sachet rather than bottle because people don't have hot water at home so go to the public baths to wash their hair once or twice a week. The CEO of Wal-Mart in China says they used to sell dog meat (the second most popular meat in winter) until there was too much opposition at home from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.