Zhongxin Market

Taichung


There are only a few outlets left in this once-busy market – meat and vegetable operators are around from 4am to 10am; food stalls in the periphery open for breakfast and lunch. Some older people still live in the tiny shops; while a gallery, a bookstore and a cafe have moved into emptied premises. Hop over for a quick look before or after your visit to the Museum of Fine Arts just across the road.

Zhongxin Market was a centre of commercial activity in the '60s and '70s when the dormitories of the US army lay where the art museum is. But after official ties between Taiwan and the US were severed, the market went into a decline. The museum appeared in 1988 and the neighbourhood was subsequently turned into a residential area in the 1990s.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Taichung attractions

1. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts

0.12 MILES

Taiwan's top fine-art museum features the works of both established and upcoming Taiwanese artists, as well as famous foreign creators such as Japanese …

2. Audit Village

0.37 MILES

An attractive example of the old building-turned-artsy-marketplace formula, the handful of old civil-servant dormitories known as Audit Village are now…

3. National Museum of Natural Science

1.14 MILES

A fantastic place for kids and botany fans, this massive museum has over 50 exhibit areas covering space, the environment, rainforests, gems and minerals,…

4. Qianyue Building

1.25 MILES

Highly Instagrammable semiderelict building with large areas covered by awesome graffiti. In the abandoned spaces of this former shopping mall, you may be…

5. Taichung Park

1.36 MILES

A historical landmark, this beautiful 20-hectare park was designed by the Japanese in the early 1900s. The elegant Japanese pavilion was a later addition …

6. Taichung Baseball Field

1.75 MILES

Adjacent to Taichung Broadcasting Bureau is a piece of interesting nostalgic sports architecture. This old stadium (1935) was once the home of several…

7. Taichung Broadcasting Bureau

1.84 MILES

Not far from Taichung Park is this leafy complex with a quaint western-style building, a small lily pond and some lovely trees. The bureau was built in…

8. Paochueh Temple

2.09 MILES

This Buddhist columbarium-and-temple complex has a few unusual monuments – a giant golden laughing Buddha with oddly placed windows, and an old temple (c…