Shenzhen Fast - Research Research Research (Patreon)

Research is... annoying! And kind of slow! This project has made me very sympathetic to cartoonists whose work involves a lot of research, my goodness. I've never done a project quite like this before, and it's MUCH more fun just to draw something on the fly ;)

Still, I made some good headway this month, and I'm proud of myself for how much I put into getting this collated and written. (a lot of the actual text is going in at this stage)

I also bought a really interesting book about this topic called the Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen.

It's really fun when you discover a book that's deeply connected to what you're doing and very cool... but also completely different from what you're trying to do! (A good feeling, which makes me feel free to operate). This book would be indispensable if you were actually physically travelling to Shenzhen and trying to navigate the electronics market there. Having been through the experience, I can see how valuable this book would be. 

In essence, most of the book is a "point to translate" guide, with maps and phrases that you can use to communicate your specification needs to a Mandarin-speaking vendor:

It has some really valuable insight into how the market works and how to protect yourself from various kinds of "grey market" deals, which I found very interesting and useful. It also has some very handy logistics information about border crossings and visas. Again -- invaluable info that you would need if you were physically travelling there... and information that I kinda wish I had last July!! Haha

It doesn't really contain much about the experience of going to Shenzhen, or what Shenzhen is all about in the broader context of design and manufacturing (which is what I'm trying to write... w h e w!)

Anyway, I'll be continuing to plod along digging through all my photos to bring you all the best guide to Shenzhen that *I* can write. :)