The Engadget Show: Inside the gadget markets of China, part two - Shenzhen
By Richard Lai 
posted April 28th 2010 1:18PM
posted April 28th 2010 1:18PM
Host: Richard Lai
Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm, Richard Lai
Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger
Filmed by: Alfred Yu, Richard Lai
Edited by: Richard Lai
Music by: Pieces of Eight, Sabrepulse
Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec
Download the Show: The Engadget Show - Segment 008 (HD) / The Engadget Show - Segment 008 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted)
Subscribe to the Show:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
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Click through for the stream...
See our other Engadget Show short features:
The Engadget Show: Inside the gadget markets of China, part one - Hong Kong
The Engadget Show: Inside the mind of Yves Behar
The Engadget Show: Inside chiptunes and 8-bit visuals
The Engadget Show: Kindle etching and DIY adventures with Adafruit Industries
The Engadget Show: Inside the mind of designer Philippe Starck
The Engadget Show: Philippe Starck Q&A bonus round
The Engadget Show: Inside Ben Heck's magic kingdom
The Engadget Show: Hands-on with Times Square
Why an SD Video link for the Zune? I can sync and play the HD one just as well! ;) Btw, nice new perspective to the show!
Shenzhen is great place to buy your iphone clone.
I've been to every place that you mention about! Sure does bring back memories...
Absolutely love these video shorts, keep 'em coming guys.
Prototype chips? This is relevant to my interests!
ugghh im at work and the hd file i downloaded wont play on my nexus. somebody needs to be the hero and save android's media playing capabilities.
anger's blazin', ya digg >:(
Love this 2 part series from Richard!
@evoGage Thanks!
@Richard Lai top job sir! excellent mini-series. more of the same pls engadget.
@Richard Lai
Its probably because I feel a bit homesick watching the HK part, we just don't get gadgets and parts like that over here in UK.
@evoGage : that's what she said!
@evoGage
Agreed, this was a great video and I'd love to see more similar shorts like this. Also, I'm pretty sure you could double as a BBC narrator while not doing journalism.
@evoGage
more short series please!
@evoGage Agreed. Excellent short, well edited and hosted/ narrated with style. Top job!
yen?
@Peter Pan
No, that's Yuan as well. The symbol is shared between the two currencies.
@Richard Lai If I am not mistaken they are the same Chinese character, just pronounced differently. Same for the Korean "won".
Why are the Apple KIRFs always better than the real thing?
lol @ this is the star of china.
Nice choice playing OutBrk
calling it Engadget Show short features is about as bad as calling it Windows Phone 7 Series.
good job.
Great job! Loved the KIRFs, the music, the style, everything. Keep these shorts coming.
Wow, didn't expect the Meizu part. Nicely done!
Wow you really think his accent is so bad that you need sub-titles? He's not Welsh!
@charlied Heh, it's nothing to do with my accent -- some clips were just too noisy so we decided to put in the subtitles where appropriate.
@charlied Many Americans can't handle any "foreign" accent
Heck some Northerners can barely make out what a Southerner says, let alone any other accent
I do phone suppoert and my accent is fairly neutral and some New Yorkers have a hard time "understanding" me
中國之星 it is lol
Richard Lai,
Thank you for your wonderful miniseries! Just wrote my final university thesis on China's MNCs...maybe one day some of these mainland China firms will one day overtake US, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, etc. (i.e. Apple, Acer, Sony, Samsung) Fascinating. Will be interesting to see if the PRC's political and economic policies hold this transition back.
Barrett
New Haven and NYC
@nightalon Congrats on your thesis! But what do you mean by "MNCs?"
@Richard Lai Multi National Companies I think
How the heck did I miss part 1??? I'm going to download that too.
@Plazmic Flame Or you could just watch the stream -- the quality's better. ;)
holy shit that meizu looks pretty slick
Got my Curve 8320 there in 2008. When I turned it on it said T-Mobile and localization settings were for Morocco :)
There actually is more real stuff there than this short lets on. Here are some buying tips if you're planning to buy electronics in Shenzhen:
- Go to huaqiangbei (Richard Lai's 2nd stop) not commercial city. HQB has much more real stuff, and people don't constantly badger you
- Since it's usually known by both the buyer and the seller that there are a lot of fake goods going around, ask! If they see you inspecting the product and you ask if something is real, they'd usually rather tell you it's fake than risk you finding it out yourself.
- Price - real goods should sell for slightly cheaper than retail at one of these small booths. If a phone is selling for 2800 at Sundan (BestBuy type store on the northwest side of the street he's on in the clip) and it's selling for 1400 at a stall, it's definitely not real, or at least has some fake parts. If it's selling for 2300, you're probably looking at a real product, and a good deal. This goes back to #1. Since everyone knows there are fake goods everywhere, most vendors don't try to pass off fake goods as real goods.
- Don't expect outrageous deals on products readily available in America. Many goods wind up in these markets because they're difficult to get through traditional retail channels in China. This is what happened with the iPhone, which wasn't officially available in China until recently. A lot of them sell in these markets for the same price or even more than they sell for in America. However, if the product is available in major Chinese retail stores, it should always be cheaper in these markets, otherwise people would just buy them in the big stores with formal return policies and printed receipts, like Sundan.
- Check IMEI barcodes, boxes, batteries, turn it on, play with it, etc... A real product should have an original battery and matching barcode #s all around.
- If you know what model you want, check on taobao.com before you go. Taobao is like a Chinese eBay, but a lot of times sellers will give their phone #s and addresses. Search for the model and get an idea what price range the real product is going for, since you can bargain with these vendors. Look for the words 原装 and 全新 which mean original parts / 100% new, since it's not uncommon to mix and match parts. From my experience, you're more likely to find the product you want at the right price if you call ahead and check things out rather than just wandering around (which can be fun if you don't know what you want).
- If you're still worried about getting ripped off, or can't speak more Chinese than ni hao, bring a Chinese friend with you.
Hope this helps engadget readers who find themselves on a tech pilgrimage in China
Excellent job Richard, I found your segments refreshingly good and easy to watch. I've wanted to head over there and check it out for myself for a while now and after watching your editorial I want to even more!
I know it would be impossible, buy I wish you guys could do an in depth look into the manufacturing side of the whole story, that would be pretty sweet.
Yeah,U are right
Since it is the place where iPhone is made,but we can't buy iPhone cheaper
Yay for Shenzhen! What an awesome city. Going to visit it again at the end of May.
LMAO! 中國之星!
This was awesome man, totally blew my mind. Sooooo much gadgets there, what the heck!
Richard, awesome work.
lol Im at the mc donalds out side sham shui po watching this now on my Ipad... Awesome.