Old Beijing's Ghost Market: Setting Up Stalls Before Dawn, Dispersing at Daybreak

Beijing once had a market called the Ghost Market, also known as the Dawn Market.

It opened before daybreak. In the middle of the night, people lit lamps or carried lanterns, spread a cloth on the ground, and laid out secondhand goods, paintings and calligraphy, bronzeware, porcelain bowls, and clocks. Buyers also carried lamps, squatted on the ground, felt the items one by one, and haggled in low voices. When dawn came, everyone dispersed, leaving nothing on the ground.

The Ghost Market had its own rules. The lamps could not be too bright; sellers said it was to avoid frightening the things, while buyers said it was to avoid seeing the flaws in the goods clearly. During transactions, the two parties hardly spoke; instead, they reached their hands into each other's sleeves and used their fingers to pinch and gesture, with several fingers representing an amount of money, so others standing by could not tell. This was called "swallowing gold in the sleeve." After a deal was made, goods were not returnable under any circumstances; once acknowledged, it was acknowledged, called "the deal is done once the hand leaves."

Why was it called the Ghost Market? There are several explanations. One is that because everything was done at night, faces could not be seen clearly. Another is that the goods sold were unclean, many stolen or flowing out from great mansions. There is also a saying related to the fall of the Qing Dynasty: after the Xinhai Revolution, many Banner families fell into decline, and their household items had to be sold, but they did not want to be seen by acquaintances, so they had to set up stalls in the middle of the night.

Legends say some people encountered stallholders who "were not human," and after buying things and taking them home, discovered they were joss paper, or hell bank notes. There are many versions of these sayings online, none of which can be pinned down to a specific person.

Later, the Ghost Market gradually disappeared in Beijing. Now, at Beijing's Panjiayuan Antique Market, people come to claim stalls before dawn, and shoppers arrive at five or six in the morning. Some say it counts as a descendant of the Ghost Market.

#Paranormal #网络转载 #老北京