Antique Market of Panjiayuan
Location: Beijing
Dubbed as the largest secondhand market in Asia, the Panjiayuan Flea Market is a must-go place of Beijing, following the Great Wall and Beijing Duck Restaurant.
People say that there are three things you can't leave Beijing without trying: climbing the Great Wall, eating Beijing Duck and visiting the Panjiayuan Flea Market. While everyone is very aware of the significance of the first two "must-dos", the latter remains something of a mystery to the average tourist.
The Panjiayuan Flea Market is located at the west side of the Panjiayuan Bridge on the Southern part of the capital's East Third Ring Road.
All sorts of bric-a-brac is sold in the market, browsing around the place you'll find a myriad of items ranging from antique paintings, jade and agate, pottery and ancient coils, to traditional furniture, ethnic dresses, relics from the Cultural Revolution, and various kinds of folk arts handicrafts. The list goes on.
Occupying an area of about 48,500 square meters, the market is thought to be the largest of its kind both in China and Asia. It is more like a huge bazaar with over 3,000 regular stalls, at which ten thousand people ply their trade. The peddlers come from 24 different provinces and regions of China. Among them, ethnic minorities such as Manchu, Hui, Miao, Mongolian, Tibetan, Dong, and Wei are most eye-catching, dressed in their colorful and unique clothing. It is no exaggeration to claim that there are more goods on sale here than you'd see in any museum. There're are enough swords to equip a small army, enough musical instruments to form any style of band, and enough costumes to meet the needs of any opera troupe.
The flea market first appeared in early 1992. At that time, many workers that were laid-off from the state-owned enterprises began to set up stalls to sell their spare electrical appliances and furniture on the streets. Later, the market grew as peddlers from other parts of the city moved in. One problem emerged-the massive amount of peddlers began to block the flow of traffic. In 1995, the street government office began to take care of this matter and allocated 3.5 million yuan to develop an open field so that the peddlers could sell their goods there. More recently, authorities in Beijing's Chaoyang District put more money into revamping the market, transforming it into an elegant and comfortable place to shop.
The market opens only on weekends and operates in a wide-open space, with shops and ground stalls co-existing. On average, some 40,000 to 50,000 people wander through the market every day it's open, burrowing through millions of trinkets with their deft hands and meticulous eyes. The market's annual trade value can reach up to hundreds of millions of yuan. Panjiayuan is a Mecca for collectors, and many foreign tourists can be seen browsing around in the market, searching for the perfect souvenir to bring back home. this means that most of the peddlers here can bargain in English. Even Hilary Clinton paid a trip here during her husband's formal visit to China in 1998.
Frequent visitors to the market normally arm themselves with a torch before going there. This habit usually belongs to the most hardcore group of visitors. The reason they bring one? So they can have a detailed look at the items at…4am, when the market opens! Wondering why the market opens so early? Here it goes: tracing back in history, there was a market called the "Ghost Market" which had it origin during the late Qing Dynasty. Then the families of some aristocrats fell on hard times and in order to make a living, they had to sell off some of their valuable things. However, as such actions were perceived as being shameful, they preferred to bring their goods to the market at around 3 to 4 in the morning. At the same time, people with dubiously acquired items also found this was an ideal time for them to get such goods off their hands. Thus came the "Ghost Market". And the "Panjiayuan" was originally quite similar.
At Panjiayuan, stories abound that people who bought an article for a low price later found out that it was worth a fortune. One person bought a sword for 15 yuan, and sold it for 150,000 yuan; another one bought a plate for 300 yuan, and it turned out to be worth of 370,000 yuan. Legends like these drum up a significant amount of business for the peddlers, but let the buyer beware, there is also a good deal of Fool's Gold lying around!