The Zoo Market in Beijing: Down and Dirty

（CRI Online）  08:28, November 28, 2012

Sometimes shopping in Beijing is just about buying stuff, but other times it's a full-on cultural snapshot, splicing together issues about societal classes, brand identities, and fashion appropriation and reinterpretation. But, of course, Beijingers simply know the Zoo Market as one of the cheapest places to buy clothes in the city.

Just across the street from the Beijing Zoo, the Shijitianle Costume Market, Jinkailide Wholesale Market and Tianhaocheng Market are collectively and commonly known as the Zoo Market.

The Zoo Market is a unique slice of Beijing culture that engagingly hovers in a time just slightly out of step with today. After years of fashion homogeneity, China's economic opening heralded a new era. "Bigger, Brighter, Bolder" was the new mantra. Sequins, tassels, buttons and zippers --- the more the merrier. Sophistication is not what garments here are known for, although the influence of H&M and Uniqlo are certainly toning things down, day by day.

"Common people like coming here because this is like a little piece of society," said Tian Qing, a manager of a booth selling bright hoodies.