Fishing for a bargain is harder than I realized

Even though people joke that the antiques in Panjiayuan are 200 percent fake, the antique market attracts thousands of visitors wanting to try their luck. Me too.

The biggest antiques market in Beijing, on the southeastern 3rd Ring Road, opens early on weekend mornings. Insiders believe that the earlier you get there, the better the chances of finding a real antique. Accordingly, I arrived at 7 am on a Saturday.

The market had already become an ocean of faces. Hundreds of stands were lined up in a huge shed. The entrance and the alley behind the antique shops were all occupied by small booths.

Wandering among them was tough, as every booth had a dazzling range of so-called antiques. Just as I was about to lose patience, a pen holder attracted my attention.

Covered in a thick layer of dust, the palm-sized container had delicate carvings of an old man fishing under a pine tree.

The design was ingenious as not only could the container, that resembled a mini tree trunk, hold brushes but the bamboo fish hamper carved on its face had a little hole to hold your pens.

I liked it at first sight. When I asked the vendor where it came from and what it was made of, he said he didn't know as he had just picked it up in the countryside.

"But it must be made of good wood because it is so heavy," he added.

I instantly felt a surge of wild joy. The vendor didn't realize, I surmised, what a great piece that was. If made in the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), its market value should be far more than what I had earned in all my years as a writer. How lucky I was!

I tried hard to hide my excitement. The vendor asked for 400 yuan ($57). I bid 50 yuan ($7), which I thought was low enough to give him a heart attack.

He turned his head away and let me go. I did walk away but kept telling myself not to turn until he called me back. Finally, I got it at 80 yuan ($11).

Later, I walked into an antique shop to buy some walnut oil used to protect wooden furniture.

While talking to the manager, I could not help telling him the story of my prize catch and showed it off.

After observing my treasure for a while, the middle-aged man was obviously sorry to tell me a heartbreaking news: It was made of plastic, not wood.

"Just scratch it and you will see plastic inside," he explained. "Don't be upset, it should be a good piece of handicraft if you clean it."

Back home, cleaning the fake antique turned out to be another disaster. The brush pot was actually painted with black ink to make it look old, while the bottom that looked like wood, was painted in yellow.

My sink was stained with the dirty water which had such a nasty smell that I felt like throwing the pen holder out of my window.

Ironically, a few weeks later, I saw exactly the same piece again in Panjiayuan.

My friends are right - they always tell me to buy less and observe more. But it was the fisherman in plastic who taught me a lesson I shall never forget.

(China Daily 10/16/2008 page20)