Night markets stir with smoke, fire and steam

As dusk falls over Zhengding in Hebei province, a remarkable transformation begins — a vast car park near the train station empties, making way for hundreds of brightly lit food carts.

- By ZHANG YU and QI XIN

Within hours the Zhengding Small Commodities Night Market erupts into life, a symphony of sizzling pans, shouting vendors and the chatter of thousands of eager visitors.

This nightly scene pulses with yanhuoqi, or smoke, fire and steam, providing a lively, lantern-lit atmosphere fundamental to Chinese night markets.

Remarkably, Zhengding's connection to this vibrant nightlife stretches back more than 1,000 years.

During the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), as China gradually abolished curfews, Zhengding (then Zhending) emerged as a regional administrative centre and one of the pioneers of nighttime commerce.

"Zhengding is a place with a night economy that emerged from more than a millennium ago," said Liang Yong, a researcher at the Hebei Provincial Institute of Culture and History.

The county's strategic importance and strong commercial base fostered early forms of night markets, Liang said.

Later, during the Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), it became the birthplace of zaju, Chinese variety dramas, further boosting nighttime gatherings.