Today being Monday, I was really surprised to see how busy the market was. So many vendors, tons of people looking and shopping. I had to go see what was going on. There must have been about a hundred vendors, all with colorful blankets and their 'antiques' spread out for everyone to see. There were old Chinese books, vases, mala, dzi beads, paintings, snuff bottles, calligraphy brushes, bowl, statues, beads, door knockers, incense holders, you name it and it was there.
There is a large antique market downtown. Its open daily and it quite famous for foreign tourists. I'm told the pieces in that market are much large, lots of furniture, old doors, giant statues. But, the market has a pretty bad reputation for hugely over charging and they also class antique as anything over 1 year!
But, this market near my house today was quite a bit different in the items they were selling. One old man had a huge pile of rudraksha seeds. They weren't in the best condition or the nicest looking I have seen. They were all actually quite dirty, some were actually caked in muddy, dirt. But they were round in shape, really rough with lots of ridges and about the size of a golf ball. He had a large pile that was about as high as my knee. My fist though was maybe people are using them for medicine in soup or teas. I didn't see how it was possible to use them for jewelry, they were much too big. But, no one was at his spot and he was asleep and I felt bad for waking him up, it was just after lunch hour and that is nap time for the entire country!
A few stalls down I spotted an old man with two of these large rudraksha seeds in his hand. His right hand and he was spinning them around in his palm just like yin yang ball. I thought this was amazing. So I instantly started looking at everyone's hands. And, most of the people who had stalls and working in the market had a set of these rudraksha seeds and were spinning them in their hand! I have seem the yin yang balls that are colorful and metal and come in a Chinese silk box, but I have only seen these at markets geared toward foreigners. In almost 7 years living in China this was one of the first times I have seen someone just strolling around using these balls. I did one other time, but they were solid jade ball, also really impressive looking!
On the other side of the market I spotted a gold hat. Just like the ones the Terracotta Warriors are wearing. But, this one was all in goldish color, maybe made of copper or even painted gold. The vendors on that side of the market had some really interesting items. Things that I think should have been in a museum, if there were anywhere close to being real. But i think they were just crappy copies. And speaking of crappy copies and fakes- I did see a bag of Pandora beads that had been covered in dirt. She was telling me they were jewels. But, when I cleaned the dirt off, it clearly said Pandora on the side! I'm pretty sure they didn't wear Pandora beads in the Ming dynasty!
Overall, an interesting surprise to find on the way back from the market!
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