The Chinese flower and bird market is a specific institution: a market that sells not just flowers and birds but the whole apparatus of keeping them, along with fish, insects, small animals and the plants and pots and food that go with them. Chongqing has several, of the kind that grew out of the older street markets and have been rehoused in purpose-built halls and market buildings as the city rebuilt itself, and they are among the most enjoyable ordinary places to spend a morning.
What is sold
Bird stalls sell songbirds - thrushes, mynas, laughingthrushes, finches - in bamboo cages, with a wall of cages behind them in every size and shape, along with cage fittings, covers, food and the small porcelain cups that clip into the bars. There are stalls selling crickets and other singing insects in clay pots, fighting fish and goldfish in plastic bags, terrapins, hamsters and rabbits, and aquariums with pumps and plants. The plant side is large and varied: cut flowers by the bundle, potted orchids, camellias, hydrangeas and jasmine, succulents, bonsai, ferns, aquatic plants, bamboo, and the tools, soils, fertilisers and pots that go with all of it.
The culture around it
The market is where a set of very old hobbies is supplied. Songbird keeping, cricket fighting, goldfish breeding, penjing - the Chinese art of miniature trees - and orchid growing all have their adherents here, and the traders know their customers. In the parks and teahouses of the city you will see the results: cages hung in trees in the morning, bowls of goldfish, miniature landscapes on a stand. Buying a plant or a small pot is an easy way to participate for a few yuan, and it is also a good source of cheap and distinctive gifts.
Practical notes
Markets open early and are busiest in the morning, particularly at weekends; the flower trade is at its peak before the Lunar New Year, when the city buys plants for the holiday. Cash is useful at the smaller stalls though most take mobile payment. Live animals and plants cannot be taken across borders, so treat any purchase as something for your hotel room or for someone in the city. The markets are usually a bus or metro ride from the centre, and it is worth checking the opening hours, since some of the halls close in the middle of the day.
