(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 stuffÂ…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 donÂ’t 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 goodsÂ…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 photoÂ…
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 @ HuaqingÂ’s Blog.
