Located in the southeast corner of the city, this free open-air market, commonly called the Jinsong Market, does business on Saturday and Sunday mornings. It's not for the faint-hearted. Peasants haul in their treasures on bicycles, broken-down trucks and by foot. Antique dealers arrive early to get the best bargains - the real things, not the fakes.
Dealers appear in the darkness with a flashlight in one hand, a magnifying glass in the other.
The peasants hunker down over their treasures spread out before them on a blanket, a jar of hot tea in one hand, a calculator in the other. At this early hour, the buyers and sellers are all local. The foreigners come later in the mornings and tend to buy kitsch. Some observers say sellers are knowingly passing off fakes, interspersing copies of vases, busts, wood, bronze and porcelain figurines with the real thing. Some sellers hire people to stand in front of their blanket showing interest in a piece in order to attract others.