A true life on antique street

antique market

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The antique market I’ve visited in a while was very peaceful.

At an alley of the antique market, shop owners were playing chess as if to overcome the boredom.

This market is in 10 minute walking distance from Xintiandi which was introduced in the previous post.(Post 4: This is Xintiandi,where every corner feels different) Unlike the exotic appearance of Xintiandi, the antique market bares the life of the working class Chinese people.

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I took this picture unintentionally when I was passing by but when I saw it again at home, the photo was effectively expressing the distance. The power of wide-angle lens!

Foreign customers bargaining with the shop owner. :]

The two cute girls had an impressive command of Chinese!!! The funny thing was that the shop owner was speaking in English and the foreign customers were speaking in Chinese.

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Things you have to keep in mind when visiting the antique market in China.

An antique market does not necessarily mean everything is antique. For visual effect, the store owners don’t brush away the dust, they make scratches or let the good get rusty deliberately. Millions of tricks are used here. If they think you are a foreigner, they might try to rip you off and sometimes there are nasty owners who will yell and say bad things to you and ask for money for touching things that you won’t buy. So be careful!!! :[

I also had to bear some bad mouthing that I do not even dare repeating for taking pictures. Maybe because the weather is hot and the business is not going so well. But of course, not everyone is like that. There are a lot more friendly owners who will welcome you with a smile and kindly explain and help out.

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A regular house located in the middle of the market.

It was around dinner time so I could smell the food coming out the window.

Poor houses with cracked walls and broken windows standing in vivid contrast to the high rises not far away. And the store you see in the picture where a woman is sitting down sells fake belts and watches. Meanwhile, the opposite side of the road is lined with sophisticated and clean buildings… fake goods in line with the antiques… A familiar sight of China’s irony.

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Simply enjoying the store display may be a better idea than trying to buy something here.

A different aspect of Shanghai always portrayed as the spectacular neon-sign surrounded city.

I’ve seen a lot of relaxed people particularly around this area, so I was able to experience the manmandi (慢慢的) nature of the Chinese people.

Dong tai road antique market is a place with a subtle allure, where you can escape from the busy life of Shanghai.

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All photos, above, have been shot with the Samsung WB500(HZ10W)