PICTURE CHINA

Every fifth day the dusty riverside town of Chong An is transformed into a bustling market as hundreds of people of the Miao ethnic group from the surrounding villages descend on the town. Villagers arrive in their distinctive traditional dress by road, by boat and from countless mountain paths. They come to sell their crops and to buy clothing and household goods.

There are separate sections of the market dedicated to everything that one might need. One street is filled with women selling vegetables, another with dyed cloth and clothing and another lined with butchers. There are areas where live pigs, poultry, fish, cats and dogs are sold and there is a street lined with barbers, dentists and practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine.

While the market serves a very functional purpose for the villagers, it is also a social occasion. Old men smoke and admire each other’s caged songbirds, groups of children buy sweets and there are even gambling tables where people wager a few Yuan on the roll of the dice.