Strange Stones

Shangjing City, Panjiayuan.

Panjiayuan Antique Market could be considered one of the most popular markets for antiques and old goods in the country.

There was a saying in Huaxia Nation's antique circles: "You can't avoid Panjiayuan, and you can't bypass Liulichang."

That saying alone showed just how important Panjiayuan was.

The market's overall style was antique and traditional, with the distinctive character of old Shangjing.

Panjiayuan could be said to be a place where countless scholars, writers, and collectors came to socialize and stroll around.

In fact, back in the early 1980s, Panjiayuan Market had not yet appeared.

At that time, Panjiayuan was still a vast residential area, and it was not called Panjiayuan. Back then, it was known as "Panjiayao."

However, people soon felt that name was inappropriate.

Old Shangjing locals usually called brothels "yaozi," which was why it was changed to Panjiayuan.

The character yuan meant home, and the newly built road nearby was named "Panjiayuan Road."

Panjiayuan truly became an antique market in the early 1990s.

However, the antique stalls at Huawei Bridge in the late 1980s, along with the roadside stalls at the construction site north of Jinsong Department Store, should have been the predecessors of Panjiayuan's street stalls.

Back then, Panjiayuan was incredibly lively, and finding overlooked bargains there was a common occurrence.

But today's Panjiayuan had changed with the development of the antiques industry. Forget about finding bargains—being able to leave without getting scammed was already a blessing.

Ye Yuan had been wandering around for an hour and had seen all kinds of sellers.

It wasn't that there were no genuine items here, but the prices of authentic pieces were outrageously high—more than twice their value on Blue Island.

Trying to get an antique at a fair price here was truly harder than climbing