The silk market of Beijing is a large multistory market selling everything one would find in the largest Chinatowns: apparels, garments, souvenirs, jewelry. No Chinese would buy anything from this market. The place is dedicated to ripping off Western tourists and during the Olympics, this phenomenon is especially acute. Employees forcefully compete for the slew of visitors, and the base ask price for most of the souvenirs are usually 10 to 100 times their intrinsic value. The most apt western buyers realize the need to bargain souvenirs' prices down to Chinatown levels. And the sellers still realize over 100% profits.

My hypothesis is that one reason why this market has been so successful in attracting western tourists is the impact of the English name: Silk market. The Chinese name literally translated to English is "pristine water"....no connotation of silk anywhere. Other similar markets in Beijing exist but none nearly as successful in building a base of loyal western customers.