BJ's Remaining Wholesale Markets More For Tourists Than Locals
Besides ducks and walls, visitors that come to Beijing in search of an authentic local experience have likely singled out the city's wholesale markets to score some deals. But, for all the cultural traditions that haggling symbolizes, these markets have unfortunately become an exclusive experience that caters more towards tourists rather than local residents.
Silk Street Market, Panjiayuan Antiques Market, and Laitai Flower Market have now become the few wholesale markets that have outlasted Beijing's ongoing urban rejuvenation campaign that has claimed dozens of similar victims over the past few years. As tenacious as they are against yielding, their success could likely be in part to their familiarity among expats and their location in the high-traffic tourist areas.
With a future full of staffless stores and online shopping, Beijing locals will be less prone to frequent wholesale markets especially as they continue to disappear, the latest being Guanyuan Wholesale Market, set to permanently close its doors on Sep 28.
After serving the community for 20 years, Guanyuan will force out 1,000 sellers as part of Beijing's campaign to relocate non-essential services. After renovation, the 30,000-square-meter facility will no longer accommodate small-scale commodity sales.
With last week's news that Top Century will shut down at the end of August, the closures have been nothing but a bloodbath – especially when referencing our 2016 round-up of Beijing's remaining wholesale markets.
The wholesale market closures include Alien Street, Tianyi Market, Tianyu Market, Tianhe Baima Market, Dongding Market, Wantong Market, the Ladies' Street Market and a number of venues around the Beijing Zoo as well as Shiji Tianle and Zhonghe. Also recently shuttered are Wuxing Market near Dazhongsi, the Huaxiang Wholesale Plant Market, the Muxiyuan Fabric Market while the Liangma Flower Market just closed this past June.
Meanwhile, the future of other remaining markets doesn't look hopeful. The Guanyuan Bird and Fish Market remains open despite having suffered a "brickening" this past March, while the merchants at the Hongqiao Market are expected to soon be pushed out in favor of a "cultural experience center."
However, what remains does not necessarily resemble what used to be. The Yashow Market of today is but a shadow of its predecessor and many of the vendors of 258 Maizidian Electronic World were forced out due to inflated rent; at the same time, Silk Street prefers to focus upon a "one-stop immersive experience" for its tourists (shown above).
All the same, the wholesale markets left standing are some of the few places where you can haggle in Beijing, thereby making it a quaint experience for visitors that don't necessarily represent the city, a phenomenon reflected in the insect edibles found along the Wangfujing pedestrian street.
But don't feel you need to brush up on your Mandarin; merchants are more than willing to speak English with you.
Sound appealing? Want to experience haggling for yourself? Here are Beijing's three remaining central wholesale markets that remain open:
Silk Street Market 秀水街
Daily 9am-9pm
8 Xiushui Dongjie, Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District
朝阳区建国门外大街秀水东街8号
(010) 5169 8800
Panjiayuan Antiques Market 潘家园旧货市场
Mon-Fri 8.30am-6pm, Sat-Sun 4.30am-6pm
Off of Southeast Third Ring Road, West of Panjiayuan Qiao, Chaoyang District
朝阳区潘家园桥西边
(010) 6775 2405
Laitai Flower Market 莱太花卉市场
Mon-Thu 9am-6pm, Fri-Sun 9am-6.30 pm
9 Maizidian Xilu, Chaoyang District
朝阳区麦子店西路9号
(010) 6463 6145
Images: ShakespeareMocha.lofter.com, Baidu.com, PCAuto.com.cn, Sina Blog (blog.sina.com.cn)
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