Panjiayuan Antique Market

Want to see life-sized terracotta warriors in Beijing?

Never see a scorpion encased in clear plastic and made into a key chain (or lovely pendant)?

Like seven-foot blue and white porcelain vase?

Panjiayuan has it all as well as things you'd actually bring home (though kids love those scorpions). From pearls and beads to old Peking Opera costumes, this place is a treasure trove.

As the largest market selling second hand goods and curios in the area, it is like a big museum, attracting visitors at home and abroad with its unique charm. Panjiayuan market is truly a market packed with Chinese traditional culture.

Having more than four thousand owners and covering 48,500 square meters, Panjiayuan has nearly ten thousand shop assistants in which 60% are from the other 28 provinces and municipalities except Beijing.

you can find almost all curios in one shop: chinese chests, Mao's head image, teapot

People here come from a variety of backgrounds, and there are more than ten minorities of Hui, Miao, Dong, Uigur, Mongolian, Korean, and other ethnic groups of China. With diffusing Chinese culture, it has become a large, quaintly classical market of antiques and handicrafts.

the endless sprawl of stalls and shops at Beijing's Panjiayuan Market

So, whether you want to sightsee, window-shop or buy collector's items, there is really something for everyone. Even Hilary Clinton has shopped at Panjiayuan.

Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30am-6pm; Sat-Sun 4:30am-6pm
Location: southeast corner of the Third Ring Road, just east of Longtan Park
Best Time to Shop
It used to be a weekend-only market. But, after some refurbishment work, it is now open for business seven days a week. However, Saturdays and Sundays are still the best days to go.

How to get there ?

Panjiayuan Market is located No.18, Huaweili Road, and just 100 meters east of Panjiayuan Bridge on the east third ring road. It is its main gate - the north gate. If you take the bus or taxi here, you'd better enter the north gate. If you drive to Panjiayuan Market, you should go through the west gate. The west gate has a huge park lot while there is no parking place at the north gate. To get to the west gate, you just drive past the north gate westward and turn left at the first traffic light, for about 100 meters on your left side; you will find the west gate.

Location Map of Panjiayuan Market

What to Buy ?

The answer is just about anything, while a quick list of some of the things you'll find:
* Main transactions: secondhand goods, arts and crafts and antiquities;
* Chinese antique furniture imitation;
* 'Four Treasures of the Study': writing brush, ink stick, paper and ink slab;
* Others: old books and paintings, agate, jadeite, ceramics, ancient Chinese and foreign coins, bamboo and animal bone sculptures, leather puppets for shadow play and a wide range of Chinese opera masks.

a women band is performing for a rich family in Tang Dynasty.

you can watch the Beijing Opera show everyday at your home

you can buy the life-sized terracotta warriors at Panjiayuan Market

A Panjiayuan Virtual Tour

One day, even one weekend, isn't enough to see everything there is on offer, but thankfully, there is some method to the shopping madness.

It is divided into six sections, and you can find your favorite two or three parts to shop:

* In the western part of the market is an open-air area where large stone sculptures are sold out of trucks.
* Next to this makeshift large sculptures section is a two-storied building that houses both modern and traditional furniture.
* The vast middle section is a semi-covered area that forms the main part of the market. This section is open only at the weekends.
* At the southernmost part is a narrow lane where secondhand books and ancient scrolls are sold. Cheaper less authentic versions of the same items can be found in some of the other stalls.
* A range of other ancient arts and artifacts are on sale at stalls in the eastern part of the market in a big yard. 
* Highest-class antiques and more exquisite and more expensive handicrafts were sold in the small indoor stores, which surround the market in north and east.

And since the market opened, stalls in its semi-covered area of the middle part have been divided into four zones according to their items they have for sale.

stone statues and buddhas at Panjiayuan Market

dazzling diversities of beads for beads lovers

To Panjiayuan photos Page to enjoy Panjiayuan market more.