Beijing Panjiayuan Folk Culture Market

　　The Panjiayuan folk culture market is a market in Beijing dealing in secondhand goods of private citizens and art and craft articles. As a market for people to visit in holidays and leisure, it also involves all varieties of goods for collectors in the nation and is China's biggest collecting and distributing center of art and craft articles.
　　Established initially as a flea market by small traders on roadside in Chaoyang district in 1992. It was later in 1995 moved to houses on its present scale.
　　Situated in a place of city traffic hub, south of Eastern Third Ring Road and west of Panjiayuan bridge nearby Second Ring Road, it is very easy for visitors to reach. The market covers over three hectares of land and accommodates over 3,000 stalls open to business. Everyday, many Chinese people and foreigners patronize this market of traditional Chinese style.
　　The Panjiayuan market has attracted businessmen from 24 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of China to set up their stalls there. Traders of many different Chinese ethnic groups including Han, Hui, Manchurian, Tong, Uygur, Xian, Miao, Mongolian and Tibetan are doing business in this market. All kinds of secondhand goods, art and craft articles and antiquities are the main transactions in the market. It also deals in antique furniture imitations, four treasures for Chinese study room (writing brush, inkstick, inkslab and paper), ancient books and paintings, agate, jadeite, ceramics, ancient Chinese and foreign coins, bamboo and animal bone sculptures, leather figurines for shadow play and all types of face masks for Chinese opera. Also on sale in the market are Buddhist relics, costumes of ethnic minorities, apparels, articles left from so-called Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), daily necessities, etc.
　　The secondhand goods and antiquities on sale in the Panjiayuan market is really a market of Chinese traditional culture. Owing to its unique charm, it has become an important place of interest for Chinese and foreign tourists to visit in Beijing.
　　As a place for sightseeing, shopping and buying treasured articles for collection, the working staff of the market believe that they are working for propagating Chinese traditional culture and promoting international exchanges, With great sincerity, they welcome people from all parts of the world for a visit to share the enjoyment of seeing part of the brilliant culture of mankind.