This venue has closed.
UPDATE: As of spring 2016, Mulan Huage has relocated to Sanlin Lu (find the full address under the 'details' tab) and is no longer the charmingly ramshackle junkyard of old. Instead, it's a more curated, relatively sanitised version in a warehouse space, but there are still some gems to be found at the new premises.
Commonly referred to as an antiques market
or a curio shop, Mulan Huage is more akin to a junkyard, with teetering towers
of wooden chairs and tables looming over old tea leaf tins in various states of
corrosion and piles of Buddhas, often lying separately from their heads. Located
in a small industrial estate beside Lingzhao Xincun metro station, it’s a
chaotic, dust-cloaked mess of furniture and household collectibles that in
places is almost impossible to navigate, but therein lies its beauty.
How much value you find in Mulan Huage’s
oddball collection relies entirely on your mindset: to some, the cluttered
layout only serves to reinforce the impression that the large hangar-like space
is full of junk; to others, it’s worth spending a few hours sifting through the
dusty jumble in search of something unique.
Should you hit upon something you want to
take home, prices are reasonable too. Tea leaf tins of the sort that Jonas Design turn into clocks are available from 40RMB,
depending on size and corrosion, small jewellery boxes hand-painted with the
characters for double happiness are around 60RMB and bird cages start at 100RMB.
More expensive items are available too – a large teak chest of drawers has an
asking price of 800RMB and a double-headed gramophone is available for
2,300RMB. Bargaining is advised, but bear in mind that you can ask Mr Sun, who
runs Mulan Huage, for repairs, fresh licks of paint and even home delivery for
your purchases.
