A Little Beijing note: That's an antique market...

On a recent little diversion over to Beijing, we headed out to what was reputedly Beijing's largest antique market. It didn't disappoint. Rather, it left us longing for such a thing in Shanghai. Now, there is a nice little rustic antique market spanning a couple streets in Shanghai (to be featured in an upcoming entry), but it has nowhere near the scope of Beijing's vast and fascinating market.

Let's be clear, first of all. Like so many other things in China, the term 'antique' is used quite loosely and may not be quite what it seems. Rather, it is a euphemism for 'stereotypical Chinese cultural relics' These may in fact be brand new, or perhaps they were just buried in a garden for a few days or months to give them that authentic 'been around for a while' look. Believe me, anything and everything is possible in China, especially in places like Shanghai and Beijing.

I must admit, I really wanted one of these little evil looking guys...

Hey, you never know when a bit of broken pottery will come in handy...

Or a stuffed deer head...

Well...

Or perhaps you'd prefer to wake up every morning to this...

An intense bargaining session for this one failed - I was at 50 RMB, she was still at 180 RMB when I ran out of time to continue...a shame, there was something about this guy I really found cool.