The Silk Road led directly through the wide Jingyuang Gate in the western wall of Chang'an and into the walled Western Market where merchants from all over central Asia gathered to sell their wares. There were over 200 merchants' guilds and 3000 shops. Each bazaar had its own particular sort of merchandise and its own warehouses, as well as its own headman, called a hang t'ou. Each bazaar was required by law to display a sign naming its specialty. The huge area was crisscrossed with narrow, winding lanes. The Western Market was a lively and exotic place, noisy and vulgar compared to the Eastern Market, but was the place to find foreign goods of all kinds.

Among the goods available were silver and goldware, ginger, silk gauze, fresh and dried fish, crabs, goldfish, sugared cakes, saddlery, ironwork, clothing, scales and measures, medicines, flowers and vegetables. Also present were the stalls of butchers and printers, and tea merchants after the eighth century. In the Western Market one could also find pawnbrokers, Uighur moneylenders, and safe-deposit shops, along with restaurants, teahouses and cheap brothels. Along the streets of the Western Market, a visitor could watch acrobats and magicians, listen to storytellers, or see productions of foreign plays.

The government maintained tight control over commerce in Chang'an. The markets opened at noon and closed at sunset and were strictly regulated by the city officials. Each of the two markets had its own director who was responsible for enforcing the many rules. It was their responsibility to check weights and measures for accuracy and to ensure not only the quality of goods on sale, but the quality of money in circulation. The supervisors were supposed to prevent any unfair trading practices such as price-fixing, cornering any of the commodities markets, or deceptive advertising. Prices of commodities were were fixed for three grades of goods, and new prices were announced every ten days. Those who wished to sell land, slaves or livestock had to apply for a certificate of sale with every transaction. All merchants were considered to be possible spies and as such were closedly watched as they moved from city to city. They were issued travel documents which were expected to be produced at the numerous checkpoints along the way and they had to prove their ownership of any animals or slaves in their possession.

The Chinese used round zhi coins made of bronze with a square hole in the center through which they were strung together. During the Tang dynasty coins became larger and heavier. For the first time they bore the title of the emperor on the front, and many coins had a crescent, dot, sun, moon, star or cloud on the reverse side. These were strung together in multiples of 1000 cash which was equivalent to about an ounce of silver and weighed a little over 1.5 pounds. Due to chronic shortages of these coins, bolts of silk were often used as currency.

South of the Western Market, the Yanping Gate led into residential areas which were home to central and western Asians, Persians and Arabs. These were mainly merchants, craftsmen or workmen, the more prosperous of whom lived in courtyard houses. At the top of the social scale in Chang'an were the officials, followed by the scholars, of which 5000 to 7000 came to the city each year to compete in the exams to qualify for government employment. Merchants in Chang'an were not very highly thought of, their official rank falling below that of peasants and artisans. Despite their affluence, they were restricted by sumptuary laws which regulated their lifestyles, even to the size and ornamentation of their houses.

The poorest people lived in narrow houses in the southernmost part of Chang'an, closest to the Mingde Gate which was the main entrance and led directly into Zhuque Avenue, the main thorughfare bisecting the city. Fields and wasteland could also be found in the southern parts of Chang'an. There were also many temples south of the Western Market, primarily Buddhist and Taoist, but also Manichaean, Zoroastrian and Nestorian.





sources:
Whitfield, Susan. Life Along the Silk Road. University of California Press, 1999.
Schafer, Edward H. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand. University of California Press, 1985.
Building Chang'an
Chinese Coins