When did the ancient shopping festival first appear?

The ancient shopping festival first appeared in the Qin Dynasty.

Actually, the shopping festival is not modern. Ancient people also had their own shopping festivals, but their shopping festivals were more combined with traditional festivals or agricultural activities.

For example, on certain days, such as New Year's Day (mostly on the first day of the first lunar month, some dynasties range from 10 to 12), spring ploughing (the second day of the second lunar month), Shangsi (the third day of the third lunar month), Dragon Boat Festival (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month) and Qixi (the seventh day of the seventh lunar month), people will be in the market.

The goods in the ancient market were very rich and lively. Merchants will also have various means to promote sales, such as beating gongs and drums (attracting customers with sound), such as selling loudly (luring customers with language), hanging a cover (promoting products with slogans), or trying food for free (retaining customers with taste).

During the Qin and Han dynasties, merchants played various routines in order to benefit customers with small profits but quick turnover. In addition, they can use red tickets to enjoy discounts (similar to VIP exclusive members) and support home delivery (to increase customer loyalty with services).

Elements of traditional fairs:

Market cycle: the market is a cyclical market, which is held every other day (such as one day or two). Most markets in China follow the lunar cycle, and the common forms are Japanese market, alternate day market, twelfth lunar month market, morning market and ghost market. The cycle of the market is mainly affected by the population density. The greater the population density, the shorter the cycle of the market.

Trading places: Trading places are usually located in market towns or villages with moderate traffic, as well as temples and the edge of towns. It can also be extended to a place or settlement for trading, called a market town.

Market-goers: In the development of traditional markets, the identity characteristics of market-goers include princes and nobles, small traders and the people at the bottom.

Transaction form: in the development of traditional fairs, commodity transactions have gradually developed from the initial "barter" form to "money transaction", and the transaction form tends to be commercialized, fair and economical.