Shenzhen: The Tech Scavenger Megalopolis of the World
I have always fancied myself a bit of an opportunist, not so much so in a conniving, disingenuous, and exploitative sense that is ultimately self-serving but as in an instant accessor to exciting, fulfilling, and rewarding experiences that I can hopefully share with anyone that is interested. Whenever a new, cool, and novel opportunity or a prospect presents itself, I’m always eager to latch on to it either as an idea or actuality. When I use to be fascinated and by extension, interested in Germany and Japan years ago, I regarded both of these places as tech wonderlands. Even though my attitude and opinion of them have slightly changed, I still think both countries have made considerably impressive tech feats. As far as I’m concerned, these days, I consider China and South Korea, especially China, as the key future of tech.
With a turbulent and violent yet magnificent and glorious history that spans over 3,000 years, China has gone through astoundingly intense generational iterations of change. From the dynasty era to totalitarian, communist dictatorships to a modern yet overbearingly powerful “mixed” market government with an indefinite president, somehow the country and its people remarkably managed to withstand all the dire historical brutalities yet also openly embraced western capitalist elements. The transition to a pragmatic market economy in the 80s under Deng Xiaoping catapulted China into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world for several generations and drastically raised the standard of living for hundreds of millions. Shenzhen, today China’s Silicon Valley and one of Deng’s proposed four special economic zones, was and still is one of the main drivers behind the country’s economic prosperity. Besides the actual Silicon Valley, this Chinese city is a leading global technology hub and innovation engine of the world.
Step inside Huaqiangbei, the largest electronics manufacturing district in the world, in Shenzhen and you will probably be amazed by the plethora of every imaginable smartphone part. However, being western-minded, you are most likely skeptical and critical of the mass exchange of intellectual property and the most burning question going on in your head is one of a legal nature: isn’t this copyright infringement, theft of intellectual property, and essentially illegal? I’m no lawyer by any means but in the states, yes, tech behemoths like Apple and Samsung would be at your throats if they found out you’re publicizing a smartphone with the laser-designed Apple logo on the back and with a Samsung S-pen in its proper compartment somewhere along the bezel of the phone. However, in China, it’s culture shockingly the opposite: the concept of intellectual property doesn’t have the same implications in China as we think of it in the west.
The fundamental ethos of China has always been centered on the collective unit as communal; this unifying and free-flowing spirit translates into tech as open-source and permeates every aspect of Chinese tech culture. It’s the driving factor behind countless smartphone repair shops at Huaqiangbei that are crammed with retailers selling copycat versions of iPhones, Samsung Galaxies, and every smartphone imagined possible. To the unfamiliar, it may seem like “copycat” has a pejorative undertone to it, but there’s a word in Chinese that means the act of making copycat products with no negative connotation to it at all called “shanzhai”; in fact, it’s the positive connotation of the word that is conducive to the collaborative and egalitarian atmosphere, where consumer electronics — often imitations of premium brands — are created at a phenomenal pace. You can essentially have a Frankenstein phone with iPhone hardware and pure Android OS made for you by four to five different sellers each with their own smartphone component specialty within a couple of hours at most.
Outside of the market in an urban village area, it is common to see people in big districts take apart phones and reassemble them back together with other phone parts. The shanzai spirit even extends as far to the point where it may seem like at times many of these people are rummaging through trash, but look more closely and you’ll realize that they are actually just going through mobile phones and stripping parts for them. What essentially is going on is these people are apart of a tech scavenging ecosystem that is basically recycling, reselling, and upcycling used/new phone parts.
Where in the states the concept of shanzai would be considered stealing, in China, it essentially would be the opposite: sharing. From what I gathered overall, shanzai is an attitude, spirit, and culture that is a way of working that’s fast, open, and based on the sharing of resources and knowledge. With a bustling counterfeit market, vibrant startup culture, and creative and dynamic maker spaces, where anyone with a drive, passion, and an interesting idea can prototype hardware/software and launch it into the market within as little as several weeks at incredible speed, Shenzhen is taking the world by storm with the way it’s perceiving and approaching technological innovations by creating a world-changing paradigm shift that you literally cannot do anywhere else in the world. Hopefully, Silicon Valley starts taking notes and seriously rethinks their MO.
