Touring China With Alibaba

With only a laptop to my name I spent five days touring Shenzhen through connections made exclusively on Alibaba

A 3D Printer Assembly Line North of Shenzhen

With five days to kill in Shenzhen and a serious lack of tourist attractions, I decided I would take a new approach to exploring the city. If you are not familiar with the city, it is considered the ‘silicon valley of hardware’ and is home to the factories manufacturing products as diverse as iPhones and pool floats. More than 12.5 million people call the city home, making it intimidating at times to foreigners.

One of the many markets, thriving with commerce

Day One

My first full day in Shenzhen was unlike anything I had ever experienced. Although I was technically there to visit my cousin Liam, his internship kept him rather busy during the day, so we started each day with breakfast before parting ways. My first stop, after the bakery of course, was Huaqiangbei — the electronics markets district. Dozens of factories stretch for miles along a large promenade, offering everything from finished electronic goods to microscopic chip components. Nerding out, I explored for hours, finally purchasing a bluetooth speaker and soldering iron to…