Ancient City Zhongyi Market
Working farmers' bazaar of about a thousand stalls, rebuilt after a devastating earthquake and still run mostly by Naxi vendors.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Ancient City Zhongyi Market in Lijiang traces how the 1996 earthquake reshaped the old town, and how farmers from Zhongyi East village pushed back against the resulting tourist theater with a market built for real trade. It walks the roughly one thousand stalls where Naxi vendors still haggle mostly in their own language, selling wild mushrooms, pickled quail eggs, and pans of Lijiang baba flatbread. Go early, before the vendors finish sweeping the morning's mess off the stalls.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Lijiang Old Town
Cobbled lanes and canal-side timber houses rebuilt by hand after a devastating earthquake.
Baima Longtansi
Cascading three-tier spring basins beside a village-rebuilt Qing shrine to a wealth deity that charges no admission.
Sifang Street
Tea Horse Road market square flooded nightly by mountain water to wash its stone paving clean.