Being an important part of wholesale and retail market chain, on the one hand, and “ethnic markets”, on the other hand, Chinese markets became major commercial entity in 1990s, a key element of public supply in the east of Russia, a platform for small and medium scale entrepreneurs (both Russian and foreign), a place for trans-border migrants activity to be concentrated in, a “meeting place”, a place for regular and everyday contacts of the representatives of different countries, nationalities, and cultures. It predetermined their importance in the urban communities’ life. The author reveals significance of the phenomenon in the city life, gives some characteristics of its system of communications and relations on the example of the largest Chinese market of Irkutsk, known as “shanghai” or “shanghai market”. The article states that despite outdoor wholesale and retail markets had been shifted to the periphery of economic and social life, Chinese entrepreneurs found new forms for their business activity to be continued successfully.