Shopping the city’s gritty underside

By Wang Yu

Between the city’s modern buildings and glitzy gated communities lies old Beijing: a world of old men, odd men and immigrants living a very different life at the bottom of the city.

While most of the time their world slips by under the radar, the flea market is the exception.

The city’s flea markets are a window into a vanishing world. The vendors come in bearing life circa 20 years ago, bundled up and ready for sale.

 

Bai Yun, a graphic designer at a fashion magazine, drives each weekend to a flea market beside MOMA, a gated community on the edge of Second Ring Road at Dongzhimen.

The market exists in an area abandoned since a light rail bridge was built above it. It is flanked by a parking lot for buses.

The market is acutely misplaced beside MOMA. Like many similar communities in the city, MOMA’s towering high-priced homes are connected by bridges crossing a manicured garden. Its gate is blocked off by security staff.

“This is the nearest one (flea market) to my home. I like its energy and raw style – unlike popular sites like Panjiayuan, this place still is ignored by the authorities. It makes the trip interesting because you can see how people outside these upscale communities live,” Bai says.

Like many flea market nuts, Bai cut his teeth at Panjiayuan. He cannot remember his first trip to explore its old treasures, but does remember it didn’t take long for him to find friends with similar interests.