Market Day in Fuli

If the date ends with a 1, 4 or 7, it's market day in the small South Chinese town of Fuli. Fuli is half an hour away by bike from the county seat of Yangshuo, with the road leading through some beautiful scenery.

 

I like Chinese markets with their people and bustling activity. In Fuli one could see how the market was not only a place to buy and sell things, but to meet friends, exchange gossip, play cards, watch other people, or get a haircut:

 

In one corner, a magic potion seller was selling magic potions:

Other people were having lunch or making music.

While these three dudes were probably planning some mischief.

The grandmas remained unconcerned.

 On the market, one could buy many things:

 

 

It was nice to see so many happy people around. When I was travelling later this summer through some big cities in Eastern China, I often thought that somehow those people from the countryside and the market in Fuli looked so much happier than the masses of people squeezing themselves through the huge air-conditioned shopping malls in China's more developped costal cities.