The Neon Rush

A day at the Guang Hua Electronics Market

Mar 23, 2009 22:45

Visitors to Taiwan often ask me where they can find the best deals on tech gear. While there are many electronics stores scattered across the city, there's only one place with all the latest goodies and gadgets under one roof: The Guang Hua Electronics market. 

For many years the market was housed in temporary buildings with blue roofs.


The construction of a new five-story building was competed in 2008.

The official name of the new building is the Guang Hua Digital Plaza. But if you ask anyone in Taipei, they'll just call the whole area guang hua shang chang. The narrow alleys located behind the main building contain many small shops that sell mostly flat-screen TVs and computer monitors. As with any area that's highly concentrated with many vendors, there are good deals to be found and haggling is commonplace. 

Inside, the first floor is more of a showcase for the latest notebook models from the big brand manufacturers.  


View from the northwest corner.


From the southeast corner, more big brands.

Head up to the second floor for computer/gaming accessories. Check out the latest deals on RAM modules or motherboard upgrades. 


Price lists hanging from the walls on the left.


Busy shoppers on a Saturday afternoon.

The third and fourth floors have more shops that sell a little bit of everything, a lot of audio-video stuff for the home, Wi-Fi and networking, connectors, adapters, etc.


TV tuners that turn your computer into a TiVo/DVR.

I didn't have a chance to photograph one of my favorite spots, the 5th floor. It's considerably less crowded because it tends to cater for the supergeeks. It's like the leftovers section of the market; they've a ton of LED matrix displays, neon lights, and a number of other cheesy trinkets found in Taipei taxis. But the 5th floor is also one of the best places in the city to find serious components such as multimeters, voltage regulators, wiring, tools and anything else needed to build your own transistor radio, robot or time machine. These accessories cater to the engineering students at the Taipei University of Science and Technology, located just around the corner, but the everyday tinkerer will find all the parts for any DIY electronics project.


After a long day of walking through the crowed aisles, you can relax on the top floor and enjoy the views of the city.

So if you're ever visiting Taipei and are looking for Taiwan's mecca of gadgetry, the Guang Hua Electronics Market is definitely worth a peek.  

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