VALE The Plant Market

One of my favourite things so far in Chongqing has been the discovery of a plant market in the vacant lot opposite my apartment block.

When I moved in I was somewhat thankful for the massive vacant block just across the road. The land is large enough for at least three skyscraper/apartment buildings much like the one I live in and I even wonder whether they will have emerged before my time here is up. At the moment though the land is clear and affords me a wonderful view across the Yangtze (river view, anyone?!) and into the neon-lit Nanping district.

Used as a parking lot during the week, on Sundays the site is magically transformed into an incredible plant market. Most of you will be aware that I’m by no means a greenthumb and the thought of a plant market is not something that would usually excite me. For some reason though I just love this market and have visited it every weekend since first discovering its existence.

I think part of the appeal is that it’s so random and chaotic. Vendors lay out their wares on the ground as there are no trestles or tables, and they stand around or squat nearby smoking and chatting. There seems to be no order or aisles but people seem to move in a relatively orderly fashion through the block. It pays to be very careful about where you step as I can see that it would be quite easy to do an ankle on the uneven ground which is merely the rubble and rubbish that covers the block. The market is always absolutely jam packed with people and it tends to spill out onto the street outside the lot, where more vendors line the road with greenery.

And everything really is green. Being such a big, dirty, polluted city I think this may be a further appeal of the market. There are more plants than I can possibly list, from trees to potted plants to flowers to shrubs. I have seen bamboo, ferns, orchids, roses, bonsai and just about everything else you could imagine. You can buy tiny plants to put in a fish tank and you can buy pots, soil, spades and seeds. There are a number of stalls selling beautiful rocks ranging from pebbles to boulders that come on wooden display stands and if you happen to buy a seedling you can get someone to pot it while you wait.

It was love at first sight for me when I saw the orchids. I convinced myself that an orchid would be a stupid purchase given I’m only here for a short period and I’d probably kill the damn thing anyway. I figured that it wasn’t worth the expense but when I enquired as to the price and found it was only 20rmb I didn’t even bother bargaining and bought one on the spot. After purchasing a pot I had shelled out a total of $4.15 (Australian dollars) which is less than the price of a bunch of flowers. I accept that I am a child of the disposable generation and when this orchid dies I will console myself with the purchase of a new one!

NOTE 27/11/2005: I wrote this three weeks ago and just haven’t got around to posting it. In that time the plant market has disappeared. I noticed two weeks ago that a team of men were filling the hole in the brick wall surrounding the vacant block that served as the entrance to the market. Why use cyclone fencing when you can build a wall?! There is no longer any access to the block and the market has vanished. I suspect that the block will be developed shortly. Vendors still line my street with plants etc on a Sunday but it’s not as big or as diverse. By the way... a couple of the flowers have fallen off but the orchid is still alive and kicking.