This market, since the Tang dynsasty
and for over 1300 years until now
And also for over 1300 years until now
has been punctually held every Friday
Furthermore, it's also the ancient Tea and Horse trail's last surviving market
Yeah, there'll be the most people wearing back-baskets today
I want to experience for myself what its like to be from Yunnan
Right right right
This is authentic (Yunnan style)
So cute
Yeah
Okay thank you, we'll head on out
This market lies within the beautiful Shaxi Valley
hidden from the ravages of time
Today we're going to take you to see the life of real Chinese people
Auntie (polite form of address), can you help me weigh this?
Help me weigh this?
5RMB
5.1RMB, so 5RMB
First let's buy some breakfast
Look at this tofu's mould
This tofu is for making pickled tofu right?
Right
For making pickled tofu
Usually you can put, like
add some chilli powder
leave it till next year-- eat it in the next few days and it'll be tastier
Because when we were little, we also often ate stinky tofu
we purposefully left out the tofu for a long time to grow mould
and then added some chilli powder
and mixed them together
So satisfying
Look
Wow!
So, looks frightening but tastes great
Where are you staying?
I'm staying at the North Gate Inn
North Gate Inn?
Yeah
I'm next to that stage
Number 48 is my old house
Then I'll help you put it in
You'll help me put it in?
Thanks
Bye bye
Come again next time!
You want the potato right?
Potato and red bean paste
For instance, how many can you sell today?
A few thousand
A few thousand?!
Wow, business is going well then
Yeah very well
Back-basket fight
Don't worry, don't worry, it's nothing
Such a big red date
What's inside?
It's just ground up sweetcorn paste
You didn't add any sugar?
No
But so sweet?
8:00am
I make it at 8 o'clock
I remember there's a kind that uses rice, does yours do that too?
It can also make it with rice
You can make it with sweetcorn, whatever you want
You can even make the two at the same time
So do you sell shoes and do this?
I've made shoes for 22 years
Then how many times do you come here a week?
I work here once a week on Friday
Everyone comes
There's so many non-locals here
Everyone we know's an outsider
Making the sweetcorn and this (rice) together
the two temperature's they need are different
so it split like this
If we'd only made one type it'd stay whole
Right right, a tube
Right right right
This is pretty tasty
Yeah it's good
Don't throw it away, it'll all be wasted, it's not dirty
Don't worry about that
Those ones we just made, inside the machine might not have been clean
Whoa
Have you used this before?
Selling apples
10RMB for 1.5kg, 10RMB for 1.5kg
In it's early stages, the ancient Tea and Horse trail was mainly depended on for
some traded goods between China's mainland and the Tibetan people
You grew this?
Yeah
Because of Tibet's climate
they couldn't produce certain vegetables
They couldn't produce tea leaves
But they needed them
So, people from the mainland transported tea leaves and other merchandise to Tibet
and Tibet was rich in war horses and meats
They would transport Tibet's horses--
Freshly deep-fried is tasty
to the mainland
So like that since then
there's been people on both sides forming a trade route
This route passes through many places
And one of them within Yunnan is Shaxi
This market was was the road that they had to take at that time
So it was very prosperous
So this is the ancient Tea and Horse trail's origin
It's just
a trade of tea leaves and horses
but there's also other merchandise
Hello auntie
What's this for?
For carrying the back-basket
Oh, for the back-basket
Yeah
Do you wear it like this?
Okay, okay, okay
And then tied behind to the basket?
You can also use this to carry it, use this to carry it
It's attached
Wear it like this
Use it like this?
Yeah just like that
Then doesn't your head get tired?
Hahaha
I've seen lots of Bai aunties
They carry very heavy things
They need to use their head to
to make it easier
Imagine if I'm carrying 100kg of stuff, walking like this
I think it's very hard
Hard to imagine
We're Fragrant Mandarin
So many fragrant mandarins!
Most people have come here from Jianchuan
How far is it to Jianchuan from here?
Maybe around 30 or more kilometers
About 30km
I'll help you put this in
You want some pancake?
We'd like one portion
Okay
We're from over in Dali
70 or 80km
70 or 80km?
Then it's really far, don't you think?
We normally travel 100 or 200km
If it's tasty then come again next time!
It's 12:30pm
This is the most time I've spent wandering around a market
Shopped for 5 hours
We're Fragrant Mandarin, see you in the next one
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You're clothes are very special
You can wear this for a lifetime
Wear it until I die of old age
You can, it's made with fresh milk
Are you guys going out now?
We've already been
I bought too much of this, can I give you a bag?
You can have a bag
Okay thank you