Subject: Shenzhen Days: The electronics wet market is as sexy as it sounds
Subject-short: Shenzhen Days: The electronics wet mar…
From: 刘畅 <tilly88@words.creation>

One thing I always tell people who come through Shenzhen for various reasons is to check out the electronic parts markets in the Hua Qiang area. It’s insane, and super interesting even if you aren’t here for electronics at all.

Imagine your traditional Chinese wet market: Bustling with activity, hundreds stalls bursting with everything you can imagine.. except everything being exchanged is electronics parts. Substitute the smell of fresh solder for frying oil; think of digital trash littering the streets instead of food scraps. And it’s not just a few parts, okay, but every type of every part. Like, there are entire markets dedicated to insanely specific things like batteries, say, or LEDs. It’s a continuous, white-hot exchange of every manner of anything electronic, and craziest of all these guys represent manufacturers who are also right there. You could find a part from a dude and ask him if he can supply your company with a MILLION of them LATER THE SAME DAY, and they COULD.

IT COULD HAPPEN. 

I try to convey the scale of that kind of thing to people who haven’t seen it and it just doesn’t come across, you know? “Oh, a market, that’s nice,” is what people would say, especially back when I lived in Vancouver. They were probably picturing something like the local Ham radio swap meet they were dragged to when they were five. They didn’t get it. You won’t get it either unless you see it.

Go see it.

Yrs,
Tilly