The antique market in the Gulou district operates from a series of covered stalls and small shops on the lanes east of the Drum Tower, and is most active on weekend mornings when dealers from the surrounding region bring fresh stock. The inventory is characteristic of Zhejiang antique markets: Ningbo wood carvings (the city's signature craft), ceramics from the Longquan kilns, bronze items, old photographs and paper ephemera from the Republican era, and a substantial volume of convincing fakes that requires expertise to identify.
For genuine purchases, the wood carvings are the most reliable Ningbo-specific finds: antique carved panels, furniture doors, and altar pieces that reflect the extraordinary skill of Ningbo's traditional carvers. Prices require negotiation and authentication requires knowledge, but for visitors with some experience of Chinese antique markets, the Gulou market is more interesting and less tourist-managed than the official antique centres of Hangzhou and Shanghai.