Shenzhen Fast - HQB (Patreon)

I didn't make too much progress this week... both because settling into a new role kind of disrupted my morning routine (which is when I can most reliably draw)... and because I had to grind so hard on that middle panel! 😂

This panel portrays  Huaquiangbei - locally known as HQB. Basically, imagine a six-storey mall. Now imagine a dense Chinese market. Now imagine that the dense Chinese market was selling every single type of electronic component you could imagine, and they were all packed into this mall (or more properly, grouping of malls.)

I really struggled to show the scale of the place (in the panel, and also in any of my photos). It was so dense, colourful, and very disorienting. It was reasonably calm however, looking at these photos I would imagine something very loud and chaotic, but it wasn't actually that bad.

If it was electronic, you could buy it at HQB. And what was really interesting is that you could buy it in almost any quantity - down to a single part (which is unusual for dealing with electronics). The people at the booths were usually representatives of factories, so you could negotiate for higher volume or customization right there on the floor.

These are "reels" - basically a long ribbon of components that get loaded into a pick and place machine for volume PCB assembly. Stacks and stacks of random reels...

I haven't ever visited another place quite like this, nor have I ever heard of one. It was very unique! If you ever have an excuse to go to Shenzhen I definitely recommend checking it out :)