SUN SETS ON MARKET

SUN SETS ON MARKET: A security guard locks the gate of Beijing's Yao Ba Lu market for the last time yesterday before the arrival today of demolition workers.

Also known as the Russian market, the popular attraction in northeast Beijing - which has kept Russians warm in fur coats, leather jackets and down clothes during their long and freezing winter - is being knocked down to make way for a five-star hotel.

The market, close to the Foreign Ministry, was opened three years ago to house dozens of stalls selling Chinese-made clothes, largely to a Russian clientele.

They buy the goods in bulk, mostly paying in cash, and ship them to Russia, where they sell them at a high mark-up. The trade has flourished for more than 10 years and restaurants, bars and hotels catering specially to Russians have sprung up in the area.

Most famous is the Hollywood nightclub, which has a large sign outside, in Russian, Chinese and English, reading: 'Prostitution, gambling and drugs are banned.' But inside, women from Russia, Mongolia and China wait patiently at the tables.

An official of the commercial and business committee of Chaoyang district of Beijing said the market was intended to be only a temporary structure. There was also a government policy to move stalls off the sides of roads and into buildings.