In Yanjing, the earliest antique ghost market appeared in Yandaixie Street outside Di'anmen in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China. In that era, the country was in crisis, not to mention the people were living in poverty, even the children of the Eight Banners or the children of rich families were in a state of panic. Some things that seem to be serious violations in modern times were more rampant in that era. For example, tomb robbers.

In that era, on Yandaixie Street outside Di'anmen, many people would trade antiques before dawn, because many treasures were sold by rich children or tomb robbers. The former were afraid of losing face for their ancestors, and the latter were afraid of being sued, so they all went to the market in the dark to sell things, so it was called the "ghost market."

Later, as social order became increasingly turbulent, ghost markets increased in number in Yanjing, but most of these ghost markets appeared outside the city of Sijiu, such as the eight old ghost markets mentioned earlier.

Of course, in addition to the ghost market, there were also formal antique markets in Yanjing before liberation, such as Liulichang, which was formed in the early Qing Dynasty, as well as Fulong Temple and Lao Dong'an Market. These markets can be regarded as formal antique markets.

However, after liberation, antiques were banned as a special commodity by the state. The industry policy of "public-private partnership" made many private antique shops gradually fade out of the market. The precious cultural relics scattered among the people were all subject to the policy of "three unifications", that is, unified purchase, unified pricing, and unified sales by the state, forming a situation where state-owned cultural relics shops dominated the world. At that time, there were only a dozen cultural relics shops in Yanjing City that could be regarded as a formal antique collection market. For example, the Yanjing Cultural Relics Shop at that time specialized in antique treasures, while the Huaxia Bookstore specialized in ancient books, calligraphy and paintings, and old books.

There is no doubt that state-owned cultural relics stores have occupied the position of the main communication channel in the circulation of antique collectibles in China, and have played a very important role in preventing the loss of cultural relics, rescuing precious cultural relics, and obtaining foreign exchange.

However, we have to see that this special "channel" is also in a state of "closed-door self-operation". For a long period of time, it is often only open to foreign guests, and Chinese people cannot become buyers. This has greatly affected the overall healthy development of China's cultural and antique market. At that time, some radical antique collectors in China had no choice but to take the risk of "breaking the law" and go to the private sector to purchase.

So under this circumstance, the "ghost market" that had disappeared for a long time reappeared.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the buying and selling of antiques was in a situation where it was unclear whether it was illegal or legal, and most of the antique business was conducted underground or semi-underground. For example, in the late 1970s, a large-scale bird market was formed in Longtan Park, Yanjing. In addition to selling birds, it also began to sell old bird cages, old cage claws, old bird bars, etc. The most typical antiques are bird food jars from the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, many of which are fine products. It is said that at that time, a Qianlong blue and white bird food jar was sold for only fifty yuan at most! However, it was precisely because of this kind of trading that the Longtan Lake Bird Market was raided many times by the Public Security Bureau and the Cultural Relics Bureau.

In that era, a very strange phenomenon also appeared, that is, the rural areas around Yanjing suddenly became active. For example, in that era, farmers in X County, Hebei Province and other places used bicycles to load two large baskets with old porcelain collected from ten miles and eight villages. Ten or eight bicycles set out in the middle of the night to deliver goods to cultural relics stores such as Di'anmen and Hufangqiao. The "convoy" came early, and these stores had not opened yet, but there were already long queues at the door. Next to these teams, there were often a group of city people "hanging out" to chat with the farmers. These were all "pioneers" in the Chinese antique market.

At that time, the antique shops accepted the goods with very low bids. A pair of "three hundred pieces" porcelain bottles - people often called a kind of large porcelain bottle with a lipped mouth, sloping shoulders, double dragon ears, and a height of about 1.48 meters to 1.50 meters as a three hundred piece large bottle, the price ranged from a few yuan to more than ten yuan (is it very cheap? It is really very cheap. Although most of the three hundred pieces of porcelain bottles are porcelain bottles after Daoguang or even in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, such a large bottle, a pair of ten yuan is really unimaginable!), the purchase conditions are also very harsh, and the slightest damage will be rejected. And those "pioneers" outside the door waited for an opportunity to come over to negotiate the price and intercept the goods that the farmers could not sell. Most of the earliest antique dealers in Yanjing remember the era of "chasing big baskets", which should be regarded as the "prehistoric period" of Yanjing's modern antique market.

The antique market in Yanjing has always had a tradition of mixing antique business with the sale of daily second-hand goods. This was the case in the "ghost market" before liberation. It was also in the early 1980s that a second-hand goods market was formed at the north gate of Xuanwu Park, which was open every Thursday. Because Yanjing had a rotation of rest days in different districts at that time, Xuanwu District was closed on Thursdays. The entire street was filled with second-hand goods, including bicycle parts, daily sundries, and antique stalls mixed in.

By the mid-1980s, the volume of antique and artwork transactions increased significantly, and several noteworthy antique markets appeared in Yanjing. First, due to the squeeze of the Xuanwu Park Antique Market by managers, antique dealers were forced to move north and gather on the west side of the Guohua Shopping Center on Changchun Street. This market was originally mixed with vegetable vendors, but later it squeezed out the vegetable stalls and became quite large. At that time, in order to prevent being confiscated, those who set up stalls spread a piece of cloth on the ground and placed a few items on it. At the slightest sign of trouble, they would grab the four corners of the cloth, pick it up and run away.

Almost at the same time, an antique market also appeared in Gulou, next to stalls selling snacks such as fried tripe. Soon, there was a qualitative leap, and the market set up a special shed, and the antique stalls became antique shops. However, this market has been open for several years, but it has never received official permission from the cultural relics department.

Around this time, due to market management and other reasons, antique dealers suddenly launched a "crusade" and almost collectively moved eastward to Shabanzhuang in the CY area, a weed-covered area that is now the original site of Yanjing Antique City. Around this time, a market also appeared on a slope a stone's throw northwest of Shabanzhuang, which is the predecessor of the current Panjiayuan Market.

At that time, vendors from other places carried baskets and sacks and set up stalls here every Sunday, and the market soon developed. Shabanzhuang and Panjiayuan echoed each other, marking that the BJ antique market had entered a new stage. At this time, the government's regulatory departments also changed from blindly checking and confiscating to taking advantage of the situation and basically recognized the legitimacy of the market.

Later, Shabanzhuang became the Yanjing Antique City, and Panjiayuan developed into the country's largest antique and second-hand goods distribution center, attracting 60,000 to 70,000 treasure hunters and tourists to visit here every day, including more than 10,000 foreigners.

PS: I would like to thank "Zi Yan Tian Jiao" for the reward of 200.

I'm back. It was such a pain to stay outside today...