While every visitor to Beijing, long term or short, has probably visited the big markets like Panjiayuan flea market and Xiushui, there are some hidden gems around Beijing. These are places where the locals go to find unexpected treasures, from 80s era Chinese electric guitars to Cultural Revolution paraphernalia to ancient toys to the expired contents of someone’s pantry (ok, so maybe those don’t qualify as treasures, but they’re certainly unexpected). These markets are also great places to go to score a new refrigerator or DVD player, to find enough DJ equipment to open your own disco (complete with the ball), or to shop for a new (to you) cell phone. Here are a couple of the best in town where you can be sure to waste at least an afternoon rummaging through old Chinese junk.

Babaoshan Secondhand Market 八宝山旧货市场View In Map
Babaoshan is a large market with a substantial section dedicated to furniture. Our family purchased a used, in good condition crib for our baby daughter at Babaoshan for 200RMB, when normally cribs sell for 1000 RMB or more. Babaoshan also has a large selection of household and industrial appliances which are housed in a large warehouse. The things for sale at Babaoshan are organized vaguely according to type, so household appliances are in one warehouse, electronics in furniture in yet another. Outside of the warehouses there is a large section devoted to antiques and art. The electronics selection at Babaoshan is rather paltry compared to the selection of furniture and appliances but it is still worth a browse. Babaoshan Secondhand Market covers quite a large area so in order to find what you want you’ll have to work your way through the wares and if you see something that catches your eye try and track down the sellers. The merchants at these markets are not particularly aggressive and you may sometimes find that the sellers are no where in sight! Be persistent, someone will most likely show up to sell you what you want to buy.

Babaoshan八宝山旧货市场 

Add: Babaoshan Subway Station North, Shijingshan District, Beijing
地址：北京市石景山区八宝山地铁站北
Opening hours: 08:00 -1 8:00
Directions: Exit Babaoshan subway station and walk north about 200m

Liu Cun Secondhand Market 柳村旧货市场
Liu Cun has a great outdoor market with various stalls selling odds and ends. There is a vendor selling used musical instruments including a shiny sax and a Cui Jian era Chinese brand electric guitar, there are guys selling shoes, there are several vendors with literally piles upon piles of junk and you can just pull out stuff and offer up a price. There are people selling pao-jiu fixings and traditional medicines as well as (used?) sex toys. Most of the stuff at Liu Cun you won’t even want, much less need, but that doesn’t make spending an afternoon there any less entertaining. Liu Cun also sells bikes and electric bikes and can outfit your three wheeler with a custom top so that soon you too can be picking up tourists outside the Forbidden City. On the practical side of things, Liu Cun has an impressive electronics selection with loads of audio equipment for sale, particularly speakers and mixers, but also microphones, amplifiers, lighting equipment and other cool stuff that musicians in particular might be interested in. In the same electronics area there are about four rows of used cell phone booths. Buying a used cell phone can be a good way to save a bit of cash and, especially if you are looking at spending less than 1000RMB per phone, getting more phone for your money. If you go to Liu Cun on the weekend or in the morning you will find that vendors are selling their random junk on the street outside of the market as well. The stuff outside is considerably cheaper than the stuff in the market proper, but often of dubious quality.

Liu Cun Secondhand Market 柳村旧货市场View In Map
Add: Liu Cun Lu, Fengtai District, Beijing
地址：北京市丰台区柳村路,城南旧货市场以南20米路西
Opening hours: 09:00-18:00
Directions: Bus Routes 74, 414, Liu Cun Stop

Wohuqiao “Everything” Market 卧虎桥综合交易市场
Wohuqiao is an “everything” market but the biggest attraction at Wohuqiao is the furniture as well as the industrial sized appliances. If you’re looking at starting a bar or a restaurant in Beijing you could probably find very good secondhand equipment for quite a good price at this market. Wohuqiao also has everyday furniture like sofas and beds as well as appliances, but it doesn’t have the odds and ends that Liu Cun has or the antiques of Babaoshan. The electronics section was a bit shabby and mostly filled with secondhand TVs, although we did see a few storefronts offering secondhand computers as well. While Wohuqiao is billed as a large secondhand market, it is really only worth a trip there if you are looking to furnish an office or a business or if you have not found what you need at the other two markets and want to try one last place. There are many men waiting outside of Wohushan with vans ready to deliver goods. Often when you enter the market, these guys will try and help you find what you need and of course offer to drive it home for you when you’re done. This can be a little bit annoying when you just want to browse around and look at Beijing’s stuff.

Wohuqiao Market 卧虎桥综合交易市场View In Map
Add: Sanlizhuang, Haidian District, Beijing
地址：北京市海淀区二里庄
Opening hours: 09:00-19:00
Directions: Bus Routes 305, 315, 618, 625, 670, 919, Nan ShanTan Stop

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Keywords: beijing junk markets beijing flea markets beijing second hand market