Songxianqiao sits on the west side of the city centre, a couple of minutes from Qingyang Palace and a short walk from the Du Fu Thatched Cottage. It is the largest antique and curio market in southwest China, with a covered main hall, surrounding shops and streets of stalls that spill out onto the pavement at weekends.
What is sold
Expect jade and hardstone carvings, bronze figures and incense burners, old coins and paper money, blue-and-white and celadon ceramics, carved wood, ink stones, calligraphy brushes, snuff bottles, Tibetan brass and prayer beads, Mao badges and Cultural Revolution printed material, and plenty of furniture that is genuinely heavy. There is also a large quantity of mixed junk, which is half the fun: you sort through trays of small objects and occasionally find something worth keeping.
How to buy sensibly
Assume that almost everything is new unless the price says otherwise. Aged jade, "Song" ceramics and "Ming" bronzes sold cheaply are reproductions; they are often well made and perfectly good decorative objects, but do not pay antique prices. Genuine pre-1949 cultural relics cannot be exported from China without a permit from the cultural relics authority, so if a dealer insists something is genuinely old, ask what paperwork comes with it. For anything at real money, buy from a shop with a fixed address rather than a pavement stall.
Bargaining
Prices on the open stalls are negotiable. Ask, nod, move on, come back later, and offer a third of the opening price. Dealers use calculators to show numbers and are used to foreign buyers; patience and politeness work better than aggression. Cash sometimes gets a better price than mobile payment, especially at the smaller stalls.
Practical notes
The market is open daily, busiest in the morning and again on weekends, and it is free to walk through. Metro Line 4 stops at Culture Park, about ten minutes away. The neighbouring Qin Tai Road is a reconstructed old street with teahouses and restaurants, which makes an easy place to stop for lunch after browsing. Allow two hours if you like looking at objects.
