Night Market

Night Market did not appear in China until after the Song Dynasty. This is because there had always been a night curfew in the cities. All commercial and social activities are limited to he held in the day, and pedestrians are banned from the streets once the drums are beaten at dusk .

As the commercial activities get more vibrant, night street markets made their appearance. At first there's still limitations to the operating hours, till around ten. All night markets came into fashion around Mid Song Dynasty. The night curfews are abolished all together. The markets around Spring Festivals and Yuan Xiao festivals are among the most active. With the latter also known as the Lantern Festival and Chinese Valentine, where the single ladies were allowed to join in the festivities at night (a very rare occurrence indeed).

There are mainly two types of activities at the night markets, namely the commercial ones and the cultural ones.

The commercial activities varied and diverse. Some are in the form of day shops that remain open during the night market. Some are stall with a fixed location where the stall holders set up stalls every night. There's also mobile stalls with no fixed location. Many goods are up for sale. But snacks are especially common. Other items like of clothings and jewelry et cetera are also available.

There are mainly three types of cultural activities. The first type are performances in the teahouses. They are mainly singers accompanied by the traditional wind and string Chinese musical instruments. The second type are tropes of entertainers who set up enclosures in which they perform, much like the circus. Their performance mainly consists of acrobatic, song and dance or story telling, puppetry et cetera. The third type are street performers who roam the streets and accept contribution on the spot. There's also street parades where troupers dress up as historical figures and walk among the crowds.