Beijing - China

Flee this urban environment

We don’t buy chirping crickets like we buy a bag of sweets.  It is essential to listen to the monotonous squeak of an insect to check it’s physical wellbeing.  Even though they only live for around three months, crickets can be sold for up to 1,000 RMB (US$135) if their singing ‘voice’ is top notch. An average singer, however, will only go for between 20 and 50 RMB.  After the purchase, you have to secure your cricket in a cage (normally made out of dried gourd), which Beijing seniors then wear inside their coats to keep them warm. 

The buying process isn’t so different from buying walnuts.  You want to examine them minutely, and feel them in your hand, by rolling them around your palms.  A top quality pair of walnuts will cost 10 RMB, or even more. Another attraction is cricket fighting – not dissimilar to miniature insect gladiators.  With a little luck, you attend an arrange ‘fight’.  A normal fighter will cost between 20 and 100 RMB, and a winner, up to 1,000 RMB. 

As well as all the normal shops on offer, there are also shops offering surf boards in every imaginable colour, diaboloes and tops, and traditional musical instruments (with a free demonstration).  On the animal front, besides insects, at Tianqiao you can buy all kinds of fish, rabbits, cats, squirrels and even mini pigs (for your apartment).  Birds, of course, are also on offer, and vary in price according to their eloquence and singing ability.   A Myna bird capable for a few words will go for no more than 200 RMB, but a slightly brighter one, with a more complex vocabulary, will fetch several thousand RMB. Plants, flowers and folklore specialties are also on offer.  It’s a good way to escape the restless pace of life in the rest of Beijing.

Useful Information: 

Huasheng market: Open daily from 8am until 5pm. Zuo’An Lu, Chaoyang District. 朝阳区左安路 . Tel: 010-6761-7240

How to get there:  There is no nearby metro.  Take a taxi to Shilihe Qiao (十里河桥), on the 3^rd South Ring Road (Dong San Huan Nan Lu 东三环南路).  The market is at the second bridge after Panjiayuan Qiao (潘家园桥).