My name is Lu Qiao and I'm the boss of a ghost market.
There are many kinds of bosses around here since a ghost market isn't a company but a marketplace.
There are a lot of definitions of a ghost market but it generally refers to a type of marketplace similar to that in Old Beijing.
There are over 80 ghost markets spread around four cities in Old Beijing. The market within the Western Imperial City is the biggest.
It is also the place where I work.
Ghost markets started with sales of second-hand clothes and at times, new clothes refined from raw materials.
There were only these items in the old ghost markets but later on, other sorts of old goods started appearing in the ghost market.
Some of these old goods were authentic while others were not. Really, they were mostly not.
There were items with unknown origins and also precious treasures.
Many pass off fish eyes for pearls so people see ghost markets as fake marketplaces.
Ever since the introduction of old goods into the market, you could find practically anything in there.
There weren't just buying and selling in the market, but they also make goods exchange.
Some said that you could even get guns from there.
While 80% of the items in the market were fake, the other 20% were usually extremely valuable.
A story's been spreading in recent years about a fellow who sells porcelains from Jingdezhen street. He would carry exactly 128 pieces in two baskets hung by a pole over his shoulders. His goods were real but seem used. Nevertheless, they looked perfect and flawless. It was said that the original owner used them really carefully. It might be someone from a rich family. The fellow sells them at really cheap prices and even give up to 50% discounts. People who managed to get a few pieces from him were lucky because, upon closer inspection, the pieces were all good stuff. They said that the fellow was a repairman in a well-to-do family who steals the pieces to sell them for urgent money.
There were actually many stories like that going around.
It was also said that in older years, one could get officials' uniforms, army stamps, and even jade seals. Even the twelve zodiac copper statues have appeared in ghost markets.
Aside from non-living objects, live creatures could also be found easily.
Ghost markets sound interesting and new so they attract a lot of youngsters.
Anyone could be a boss in ghost markets as long as they have things to sell and a mat to sell them on.
In fact, they could even sell things they had just purchased from the very same market moments ago.
There were many bosses in ghost markets but only a few truly earn some profit.
I'm in the minority group who's actually earning.
As its name implies, the ghost market brings different interpretations.
There were all sorts of ghost markets now, even fake ones.
Borrowing the market's name, people would start appearing at night to sell their items.
The real ghost market opens every Thursdays from four in the morning and for only an hour.
So basically, I'm working only an hour a week.
The rest of the days of the week, I prepare diligently for the upcoming shift at the market.
There's a set of rules within the ghost market: No shouting, no greeting, no snatching of business. All must be left to the consumers themselves.
I earn my own money this way.
The items I sell are different from other sellers; I make voodoo dolls during my off days.
The voodoo dolls weren't new as I would soak them in tea. I would then prepare a red cardboard box that is made to look old and write on it with ink. "Write your enemy's name down and slip it in."
Yes, that's right, I sell voodoo dolls.
Fake ones, of course.
I spread a fresh red cloth over the ground and placed the three voodoo dolls on it, waiting for a curious bunch to gather around.
When someone approaches my stall, I would first observe his shoes.
From that alone, I could gather about 70% of the information. I could get an idea of his living standards from the condition of his shoes and his financial ability from its brand.
I would then confirm my judgment by observing his conversing style and actions. Of course, I'm never always right.
Adidas' Yeezys costs from 3,000 to even tens of thousands of dollars.
I often see youngsters wearing trendy sneakers, but I do know that there are also fake 20-dollar Yeezys online.
I would usually set a price based on a person's wealth, and accept anything from 30 to 1,000.
When there's a group of people, I would sell my dolls at a higher price and wait for them to fight it out.
The moment I set a price, there's no room for a bargain and I accept cash, AliPay or even UnionPay since I had a POS machine.
When all three dolls are sold out, I would wait a little while before putting three more on the mat.
I had only an hour a week, and my highest record was selling over 20 dolls.
There were times where I sold nothing as well, but results were usually good.
The ghost market is really big and I always set my stall in the southern part.
My ability to remember people is quite remarkable so there were people whom I would recognize.
I would remember who I've sold the dolls to and cover my dolls up when I notice them in the market. There are two sides to my cloth, the top red in color and the underside grey.
I would only open up the cloth when they had passed by in order to prevent trouble. There were times that I failed but there's a 'no refund' rule so it wasn't really a big deal.
I'm 28 this year and I have known about the ghost market since I was 17.
I never missed a Thursday in the market ever since.
The market works on a first come first serve basis so whoever reaches first gets to occupy a space of their choice.
This is only half true since there were already over 20 fixed stalls spread over the northern, southern, eastern, and western part.
They're prepared for the four ghost kings: Dong Zhao, Nan Qian, Xi Sun, and Bei Li.
They're no longer in the market, and who knows, they might not even be in Beijing anymore.
They have their own assistants running everything for them.
I'm working under Nan Qian. He's called Nan Qian not because Qian is his surname but because he runs a currency exchange.
It's impossible to say that there are no factions within the market, but the factions have limited power and are small and covert.
All they do is occupy land and I do own a space of my own.
There are fees to occupy the land of course, but it was extremely worth every cent in my opinion since it had been the reason why sales were more or less guaranteed.
I do not enjoy scamming people, but for survival, I no longer knew what should and shouldn't be done.