Jade Market

The Jade Market sits under Gascoigne Road flyover in Yau Ma Tei, a covered space holding somewhere around four hundred stalls, each one a small glass-cased universe of bangles, pendants, and carved figurines in every shade of green a stone can produce, plus the lavenders and whites that jade also comes in and that I hadn’t known about before walking through. It opens in the morning and runs into the early afternoon, and the light inside, filtered through the covered roof, gives everything a slightly underwater quality that suits the merchandise.

I know close to nothing about jade quality, and every vendor I spoke to seemed entirely aware of this within about ten seconds. The good ones didn’t try to oversell — they explained, patiently, the difference between Type A jade (untreated, the real value) and Type B or C (bleached or dyed, worth a fraction of the price), and showed me how to check for the cooler-than-expected touch of genuine stone. One woman held a bangle to a small flashlight and pointed out the way real jade holds a subtle inner glow rather than looking flat. Whether I actually learned to tell the difference or simply believed what I was told, I can’t say for certain, but I left with a small pendant that I like a great deal regardless of its provenance.

Bargaining is expected and mostly good-natured, though the range of asking prices for similar-looking pieces was wide enough that I suspect a first-time buyer overpays more often than not. Several vendors specialise specifically in animal carvings — pigs, rabbits, dragons tied to the zodiac — bought as gifts for a family member born in that year, a custom that seemed to account for a large share of the actual sales happening around me rather than tourist purchases.

The market sits close enough to Temple Street that the two make an easy pairing if timed right — Jade Market in the morning while the light and the vendors’ patience are both at their best, Temple Street after dark for the food and the fortune tellers a few streets over.

When to go: Mornings, ideally before noon, when the stalls are fully open and vendors have the patience for a proper conversation about what you’re buying. It runs daily but thins out noticeably by mid-afternoon as some vendors pack up early.