POPPY, SHOPPING.(The Talk of the Town)(Hongqiao Market, situated in southern Beijing)

Publication: The New Yorker

Publication Date: 05-DEC-05

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COPYRIGHT 2005 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

Once upon a time, the Great Wall was an obligatory stop on any state visit to the People's Republic. Foreign leaders stood on the structure, shook hands with Communist Party cadres, and took photographs. But that was before the rise of the Hongqiao Market. Situated in southern Beijing, Hongqiao doesn't look like much. The white-tiled exterior is ugly; the interior is cramped in a way that suggests that fire codes have yet to be deciphered. Its hundreds of tiny stalls have been arranged according to the mercantile food chain: live fish in the basement; electronics and watches on the ground floor; luggage, shoes, and...

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