A New Essential Guide to Electronics by Naomi Wu details a different Shenzhen
Enlarge / The New Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzen is made to be pointed at, rapidly, in a crowded environment. (credit: Machinery Enchantress / Crowd Supply)
"Hong Kong has better food, Shanghai has better nightlife. But when it comes to making things-no one can beat Shenzen."
Many things about the Hua Qiang market in Shenzhen, China, are different than they were in 2016, when Andrew "bunnie" Huang's Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen was first published. But the importance of the world's premiere electronics market, and the need for help navigating it, are a constant. That's why the book is getting an authorized, crowdfunded revision, the New Essential Guide, written by noted maker and Shenzhen native Naomi Wuand due to ship in April 2024.
Naomi Wu's narrated introduction to the New Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen.
Huang notes on the crowdfunding page that Wu's "strengths round out my weaknesses." Wu speaks Mandarin, lives in Shenzhen, and is more familiar with Shenzhen, and China, as it is today. Shenzhen has grown by more than 2 million people, the central Huaqiangbei Road has been replaced by a car-free boulevard, and the city's metro system has more than 100 new kilometers with dozens of new stations. As happens anywhere, market vendors have also changed locations, payment and communications systems have modernized, and customs have shifted.