Shenzhen’s population exploded from 30.000 residents in 1980 to almost 13 million in 2017. How did this happen? In 1980 Shenzhen became the first Special Economic Zone of China (SEZ). This meant Shenzhen could profit from free market-oriented economic policies and flexible governmental measures, making the area attractive for trade and (foreign) investments. Money, and subsequently, people poured into the former market town.

Shenzhen now boasts the biggest (wholesale) electronics market in the world , in the Huaqiang-bei (华强北) subdistrict. The market consists of thousands of small shops in several high rise building in one street. Each building has many floors of shops. You can buy literally any hardware you need. One shop has hundreds of different on-off-buttons, the next shop is packed with USB-cables and yet another shop sells RAM in all shapes and forms imaginable.

I spent a long afternoon walking each floor of the electronics market - which took many hours. I had nothing to buy, but wanted to soak in the atmosphere. The place was relaxed and buzzing at the same time. Delivery men on electric scooters were picking up and delivering small packages left and right.

Start-up companies flock to Shenzhen because of the easy access to hardware. If you want to built something, nowhere in the world you can do it faster. Speed is everything. And most importantly, a lot of R&D is done in Shenzhen and China in general.

China wouldn’t be China if you couldn’t get a cheap meat broth with rice and some fried duck in the back alleys of the market. I have to say, KFC and Starbucks were also very present in the electronics market.

Build Your Dreams

Shenzhen hosts the headquarters of Chinese electric carmaker BYD Auto. Built on a company which made just batteries in 1995, BYD - short for: Build Your Dreams - is now a major player in the electric car and bus industry. In BYD’s homecity 21.000 taxi’s are battery powered. Not without problems, not all 21.000 electric BYD taxi’s are operational at the moment because the charging infrastructure isn’t ready yet for that many electric vehicles. Still, there is a fair chance your first electric car will not be a Tesla or a Volkswagen but a Chinese BYD.