(Adapted from Huaqing's Blog @
http://spaces.msn.com/members/mahuaqing)
The Modern Pasar Malam in Chengdu
The word Pasar Malam is a Malay word, which means night market.
This entry will introduce to you one of the night markets in
Chengdu-Tian Zuo Shang Cheng, which is actually made of a very
big underground tunnels network.
The Night Market in Singapore is usually somebody build a tent and
people come and sell their stuff
usually u can buy food and
sometimes even bedsheets there, but nowadays u can even find
handphone accessories there.
However, in Chengdu, the night market is not like that one. The
Tian Zuo Shang Cheng which is made up of a lot of underground
tunnels joining together as a network in the Central Business
District of Chengdu, sells almost everything u can find in Chengdu,
and has great variety. For example, even computer games and books
are sold there.
Although the Tian Zuo Shang Cheng is a night market, it opens 24
hours a day, 7 days a week, and a lot of people go there in the day
and night. Not only Chengdu citizens go there, but the Tian Zuo
Shang Cheng also attracted a lot of foreigners to shop there too.
Before I came to Singapore in 2002, I had extra English lessons in
a Singaporean private institute called Informatics in the CBD
(Central Business District) every night. Last time I had this very
kind teacher from USA named Sarah Stephenson, and she bought a lot
of ties for her husband in USA. She once told me that she really
enjoyed the Chengdu night market culture a lot.
Many years ago, there were many crimes in the Tian Zuo Shang Cheng
like pickpockets and shoplifting, even robbery, and not many people
dared to shop there even in the day. However the good news is that
over these years the government has taken a lot of actions against
these crimes so it is now very safe to shop there.
It is obvious that the prices for the items sold in the night
market should be lower than the prices for the same goods in other
stores, but sometimes the quality of the goods cannot be ensured,
so people dun dare to shop in night markets sometimes. However,
this problem has been solved with the establish of Tian Zuo Shang
Cheng since it is a permanent night market and all shop owners are
registered, so even if there is problem with the quality of the
goods sold, you can still go back and look for the shop owner for
the problem to be solved. This is indeed a great thing about the
pasar malam in Chengdu, as compared to the pasar malam in
Singapore.
There are both good and bad points about the pasar malams in
Chengdu and Singapore, but it will be great if both sides can learn
from each other.
In Singapore the night market is such a real one that u can always
hear people yelling at you, promoting their goods to you. However,
in Chengdu, sometimes you dont hear this kind of yelling, as the
structure and many other things are so much different from
Singapore.
So now u know that the night market in Chengdu is underground, but
how to enter it? Well, in almost every cross junction in CBD, there
are always four entrances on all four sides. Inside the entrance
there are escalators to bring you down to the underground night
market. Before u entered the night market, u can still see vehicles
on the road and tall buildings everywhere, and hear all the noises
on the road, but once u are on the escalator, as it brings u
further down the tunnel, the noise gradually disappears and it
becomes a bit silent for a moment, then after that it seems that u
have entered another world, as u could no longer see the road and
could only see people busy selling and buying goods
maybe I am too
imaginative, but I really felt that this place is awesome.
The Tian Zuo Shang Cheng has already existed there for almost 20
years. Although it is a bit old, but it never failed to attract
tourists from other countries. Sometimes I walked past one of the
entrance, and I could see tourists from other countries taking
photos there. I never expected that just a night market in Chengdu
could attract tourists to take photo
The Tian Zuo Shang Cheng is just one part of the exciting night
life in Chengdu. Some more are coming up soon. For example, a old
street that has existed for almost 300 years called the Ran Fang
Street (means Painting street) specializes in selling local
souvenirs.
It will be great if you guys can come to Chengdu one day and
experience the unique night market culture yourself.
I will tell you more stories in Chengdu in the future, so stay
tuned @ Huaqings Blog.
