JPWasko

Hey Fodor's folks,

I'm off to Beijing next week for a nine day holiday to visit some friends. I've been to several major markets in the city, but was curious if anyone knew of the best markets for electronics. I'm really not looking for top of the line stuff.... more oddities than anything else. (strange video games, etc.)

Thanks!

JW

PeterN_H

Most centrally, Bai Nao Hui in Chaoyang Men Wai Dajie may have something, either from the vendors inside or sellers of pirated disks outside (assuming they've returned post-Olympics). There are certainly games consoles on sale, so probably games are not far away. Take the southeast exit of Chaoyang Men metro (on Line 2) and walk east on the south side of the road. There's a second electonics place on the north side just west of Bao Noa Hui, too, attached to a big clothing mall called Chaowai Yueshow Fashion Market (Yuexiu Fuzhuang Shichang). The basement of the market also has eletronic incidentals such as drives and disks, so you could also look there.

The area for vast electronics malls is Zhong Guan Cun in Haidian district to the northeast. You could try the multi-story Kemao Dianzi Cheng at Zhong Guan Cun Dajie south of the Fourth Ring Road junction, but there are many neighbouring similar stores. If you can't find anything electronic here then it doesn't exist. Take line 10 to Haidian Huang Zhuang and a taxi north from there.

But you should also look in ordinary multi-storey markets frequented by local people away from the centre, and that often have electronic items. The toy market behind the disreputable Hong Qiao Shichang, or so-called Pearl Market has stall with games and game machines, for instance, probably mostly hacked or fakes. The Xin Shijie Shangpin Jiao Shichang (occasionally known as Vantone) is directly reached from metro Fucheng Men on Line 2, and also has electronic oddities and games amongst stalls selling just about everything else you can think of.

Peter N-H

PeterN_H

Actually, thinking about it, if you walk north from the Haidian metro station mentioned you'll pass lots of electronics shops en route and reach Kemao in about 15 to 20 minutes.

Peter N-H

JPWasko

Wow, fantastic information Peter!!

Thanks so much for your help. This is my fourth trip back to Beijing, and being somewhat of a game enthusiast I thought this would be fun way to spend a day.

PeterN_H

Errata: Haidian is in the *northwest* not northeast. And both mentions of Bai Nao Hui should be spelled that way. Such is haste.