Inspired by this post on Hacker News, wanted to share some information on a recent visit to Shenzhen in 2017. With a spare day, headed to the massive electronics market known as Huaqiangbei. Armed with nothing but a few pages of Andrew `bunnie` Huang's Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen, I wandered through a few malls full of video games, LEDs, and random electronics until hitting the motherlode shown below. This main complex had a little bit of everything under the sun, computer cases, POS machines, 1.25G SFPs and right off the entrance was a company selling pick & place machines. Best of all - the roast duck available on most floors.
Coming from North America, it was really an incredible thing to see. Even though Fry's and NCIX have their positives, the sheer number of stores, brands, and completely different industries available all under one roof were astonishing. Having said that, HQB overall was really just a scaled up version of Hong Kong's Golden Computer Arcade in Sham Shui Po. If you are a PC/gaming enthusiast, or looking to pick up any electronic device - Huaqiangbei has you covered. But I have the feeling that with some more digging, and a little more Mandarin, there is a lot more to discover here.
