Infinite imagination of ＂online celebrity＂ vegetable market
Sanyuanli vegetable market in Chaoyang District is neat and standardized, clean and hygienic, with complete products. Because it is close to the embassy district, it also attracts many foreigners to buy it. Reporter Deng Wei photo
Reporter Ma Jing
Just after 9: 00 a.m., Sanyuanli vegetable market became lively. Chefs from western restaurants came to buy lunch ingredients, young mothers picked imported fruits, and takeaway brothers walked quickly through busy delivery. Delicious vegetables, colorful fruits, seafood from all over the world, and strange spices … … Although this vegetable market with an area of only 1,560 square meters is small, it is full of all kinds of delicious food from all over the world.
In the vegetable market, a long and narrow passage runs through the north and south, with 140 merchants on both sides. In a booth of only a few square meters, merchants set up a ladder with a simple frame to place dishes, and the layered vegetables will be surrounded by vegetable sellers, who can only drill in and out from the corner of the ladder.
For 59-year-old Li Xueling, loading goods is a manual job, but she enjoys it. Before dawn, her whole family drove to major wholesale markets to select fresh "sharp goods". After being transported back to the vegetable market, they had to choose dirty leaves, wrap them in plastic wrap, and put them on the stalls after some initial processing. "The morning is the busiest and most chaotic time, but the market is neat as soon as it opens." Li Xueling said.
"Elder sister, give me a small box of sweet beans and a catty of tomatoes." Just opened, Ms. Sun, an old customer, appeared in front of the booth in Li Xueling as usual. The price of two vegetables of nearly 100 yuan did not surprise Ms. Sun. After skillfully scanning the code to pay, she picked up the bag and walked to the fruit stand.
What attracts Ms. Sun is that there are always unexpected gains here. A kilo of organic tomatoes in 20 yuan, Japanese pumpkins that are often sold out of stock, Brussels sprouts that look like mini cabbages, and delicious flowers with high value … … The small vegetable market is an eye-opener and makes people enjoy the beauty of food.
"Who would have thought 30 years ago that there are so many kinds of vegetables now?" Li Xueling remembered that she and her husband came to Beijing from their hometown in Baoding, and each of them joined the army of selling vegetables with a flatbed. At the beginning, all the stalls were the same road dishes, with only five or six varieties. At that time, she didn’t expect that such a "online celebrity" vegetable market could be built on the grassland that she passed every day when she went home.
In 1992, before and after the country completely abolished the policy of residents buying pork by ticket, vegetable greenhouses were built in Sanyuanli vegetable market, and roadside vendors pushed carts into the market to set up stalls. Since then, this old vegetable market has undergone many upgrades and hardware upgrades, and it has also evolved into an international vegetable market full of emotional appeal.
If the opening is the right time, internationalization is the right place. Because of its proximity to the embassy district, Sanyuanli vegetable market has attracted customers from all over the world, and various demands have also made merchants smell business opportunities. This vegetable market, which takes two or three minutes to walk quickly, has gradually become a "fresh United Nations".
Yesterday evening, Liu Rong, a white-collar worker who just finished working overtime, walked into Sanyuanli vegetable market and went straight to a cheese shop, with black lemon cheese and colorful red sauce cheese … … Liu Rong, who just learned to cook western food, was dazzled.
"I have no cheese you can’t find." Shop owner Wen Guochen is full of confidence. Twenty-two years ago, he was a vegetable merchant in the market. Because many foreigners who came to buy food could not find their own cheese, Wen Guochen decided to change careers. He asked the import agent to collect all kinds of cheese and spices to satisfy the stomachs of foreign customers. In recent years, more and more Chinese began to patronize his small shop, and the business was getting better and better.
Just after seeing off the customers, a fashionable food anchor walked into the store, aimed the camera at the cheese in the freezer, and the screen of the mobile phone flashed with questions from fans. For such a scene, Wen Guochen has long been accustomed to it. In recent years, artists have come to hold exhibitions, writers have come to hold new book conferences, and economists have come to hold small classes in economics. The unique "online celebrity" temperament makes this vegetable market bring people endless imagination.
Li Xueling felt that in the past two years, the number of passengers in the vegetable market has decreased, but the micro-shops in mobile phones have become busier. "When someone visited once, they added WeChat. When it is inconvenient to come, they will place an order online." Like Li Xueling, merchants have been operating mobile phone markets. The take-away and flash delivery staff who shuttle through the market have also become a unique landscape.