Menghun Saturday Market in Menghai County, Xishuangbanna

The traditional market day in Menghun has a long history, as Menghun Town is one of the ancient Twelve Dai Regions and is situated at the center of Menghai County. Throughout history, the traditional market day in Menghun has been an important occasion for local ethnic minorities such as the Dai, Hani, Lahu, Bulang, and Wa, who engage in weekly exchanges and trade of goods and daily necessities. It is renowned as “one of the liveliest and most ethnically distinctive markets in Xishuangbanna.”

On market days, a bustling trade takes place, featuring a variety of ecological agricultural products, ethnic snacks, traditional handmade crafts, and various traditional ethnic costumes. People can savor famous local specialties such as the 201 soft rice and He Kai ancient tree tea. Additionally, there are items with rich ethnic flavors, such as Dai traditional handmade paper, traditional bamboo crafts, traditional pottery, and traditional costumes of the Hani and Lahu ethnic groups. Local products like winter melon pork, free-range chickens, pickled beef skin, pickled fish, wild bananas, red peanuts, vegetables, bitter bamboo shoots, sweet bamboo shoots, bamboo shoots, giant black bees, honey, glutinous corn, and self-baked liquor are also traded on market days. These transactions make the market day a lively and ethnically distinctive event, an integral part of the local residents’ lives.