Posted Monday, November 15, 2004; 21:00 HKT
It's a neat twist of Chinese history that household effects once confiscated from the country's landed gentry and redistributed to peasants are now being sold back to middle-class collectors for hard cash at a Beijing street market. But if you want to see the flotsam of prerevolutionary life, pay a visit to Panjiayuan. Search patiently among the fakes and chintzy junk, and you'll come across the loot of countless defenestrations and expropriations that took place in the immediate aftermath of the 1949 revolution—from brass water pipes to jade cricket cages to hand-painted perfume bottles.

The Middle Kingdom's greatest weekend rummage sale began a decade ago, when vendors first spread their wares on blankets in an abandoned lot. Shoppers today are mostly Chinese cognoscenti, plus a smattering of foreign tourists. The market has even become sophisticated enough to have its own personal shoppers—young women like Kang Qian, who is studying to become a translator. To practice English, she'll help you navigate the mountains of embroidered Tibetan saddles, Peking-opera masks and opium divans, interpreting between you and the stall holders free of charge (and no, she isn't in collusion with them). Getting something for nothing in a Chinese marketplace: Is there no end to Panjiayuan's little quirks?

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