Pan Jia Yuan

If there is an antiqued trinket - howsoever tacky - to be found anywhere in China, rest assured you will also find it at the oft-demolished Panjiayuan 'dirt' market off the 3rd ring road in SE Beijing. From posters of the 'So Called Cultural Revolution' to Shang dynasty bronzes from 1700 BCE, from Yinxing teapots to military-surplus binoculars, Panjiayuan has everything; I saw several paintings by Tintoretto and Modigliani, Tibetan trunks, Ming pottery, Mikimoto pearls, bronze door knobs, papier-mache puppets, even Victorian claw-feet bathtubs.