STREET VENDORS & ROADSIDE MARKET STALLS BEFORE THE 2026 SPRING FESTIVAL IN MGO MANG (GUOMAYING) TOWNSHIP, MANG RDZONG (GUINAN) COUNTY, MSTHO LHO (HAINAN) TIBETAN AUTONOMOUS PREFECTURE, MSTHO SNGON (QINGHAI) PROVINCE, PR CHINA

STREET VENDORS & ROADSIDE MARKET STALLS BEFORE THE 2026 SPRING FESTIVAL IN MGO MANG (GUOMAYING) TOWNSHIP, MANG RDZONG (GUINAN) COUNTY, MSTHO LHO (HAINAN) TIBETAN AUTONOMOUS  PREFECTURE, MSTHO SNGON (QINGHAI) PROVINCE, PR CHINA

by Gser mo mtho གསེར་མོ་མཚོ། (Saimaocuo赛毛措)

I filmed street vendors and roadside market stalls in my hometown, Mgo mang (Guomaying) Township, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, February 13, 2026. Street vendors usually start setting up their stalls at around 10 a.m. By 11 a.m., most have already finished displaying their goods. There are not many people in the market in the early morning.

I also interviewed one vendor, asking how they choose their roadside spots. They pick randomly, choosing wherever is available in the market area.

About 15 to 20 days before the Spring Festival, the government offers vendors free temporary roadside stall spaces. Although street vendors begin setting up their stalls around 20 days before the Spring Festival, residents only start shopping more actively in the final 10 days leading up to the festival when the streets are crowded with people.

On average, people buy most of their New Year’s supplies during the last 10 days. As for my own family, we do our shopping within the final five days before Spring Festival. My mother says goods are much cheaper at this time, especially fruits like bananas. 

Nowadays, few people use cash in daily life, and almost everyone pays with WeChat. Even so, cash is still a must during the Spring Festival. When kids come to give New Year greetings, families need cash to put into red envelopes, usually small notes like 3 or 5 yuan. Since most people don’t carry cash, some street vendors offer cash exchange services that exchange 100 yuan in large bills into 50-yuan, 20-yuan, 10-yuan, and 1-yuan bills for a 5-yuan fee. Apart from the Spring Festival, cash is also needed for weddings when people prepare cash for wedding gifts.

Certain street stalls sell pre-braided hairstyle wigs. Nowadays, many young women don’t know how to braid hair, which takes a lot of time and can be uncomfortable to wear for long periods. However, for weddings and festival occasions, traditional braided hairstyles are still required. Today, it has become much easier and more convenient. People can buy ready-made, pre-braided fake hair from roadside market stalls. These hairstyles are already fully braided and may be worn directly, especially during Spring Festival. This business has recently become popular with more vendors selling these easy-to-wear, pre-braided hairpieces.

TIBETAN TERMS

gser mo mtho གསེར་མོ་མཚོ།

mang zdong མང་རྫོང་།

mgo mang མགོ་མང་།

mstho lho མཚོ་ལྷོ།

mstho snon མཚོ་སྔོན།

CHINESE TERMS 

Guinan 贵南

Guoma Ying 过马营

Hainan 海南

Qinghai 青海