Xiaonanmen - the small south gate - is the least ceremonial of Xi'an's old city gates, a plain opening in the Ming wall on the southern side of the city. Outside it, in the streets that run down to the moat, a produce market sets up every morning and folds away again before noon. It is not a tourist market: there are no souvenirs, no English signs and no stage-managed atmosphere. It is where the neighbourhood buys vegetables, and it is the most direct way to see what Shaanxi actually eats.
What is on the stalls
Spring onions, garlic, chilli by the sack, dried mushrooms, walnuts from the Qinling foothills, persimmons in autumn, and piles of the local wheat noodles and flatbreads. In summer there are crates of apricots, peaches and melons from the plain around the city; in winter the produce turns to cabbage, turnips, potatoes and dried goods, and the stalls stay open regardless of the cold. Butchers hang whole carcasses and cut to order. Look for the pickle sellers with barrels of fermented vegetables, chilli pastes and the dark, sharp vinegar that Shaanxi cooking depends on.
Breakfast along the same street
The carts and holes-in-the-wall around the market sell the standard Xi'an morning: youtiao fried dough sticks, soy milk, jing gao sticky rice cakes with dates, hulatang pepper-thickened soup, and roujiamo - braised pork chopped and packed into a flatbread. Everything is eaten standing or on a low stool, and a full breakfast costs a few yuan. The market is at its best from six to eight in the morning, when the light comes across the moat and the growers are still unloading.
Practical notes
The market sits just outside the wall near the Xiaonanmen gate, walkable from the South Gate or a short taxi ride from anywhere in the old city. It is cash-and-mobile-payment territory and there is no seating to speak of, so go with the expectation of standing. Weekends are busier but not unmanageable. Combine it with a walk on the city wall above, since the gate is one of the access points, and with a coffee afterwards in the lanes north of the market.
