Hua Qiang Bei Lu Technology Market

Took the train from Kowloon up to Lo Wu and entered BY-land at Shenzhen on Sunday 31st Jan. The border is pretty civilized on a Sunday – last time I was there it was Monday morning and was a heaving, hurrying mass of humanity.

Highlight of the visit to BY was a trip to the Hua Qiang Bei Lu technology market – a vast area of retail and wholesale electronics outlets.

I was walking around with my eyes and mouth wide open – just like my first visit to Hamley’s, the London Toy store, forty-something years back. Think Dayton and Friedrichshafen rolled into one and you get some idea of one corner of this place. It even extends over multi-storey buildings…



Inside there is everything from family-run stalls selling components to organisations who will manufacture a product to your design in drops of 100k units.

I turned down the 5W dual-band handie for less than £50 (the fist is mightier than the voice) but fell for some high voltage electrolytic capacitors for my valve games (blogs passim) from these people…



and some LCD displays for the frequency counter circuit I use. Oh yes – I also couldn’t resist those 78L05s for tuppence a throw!

Here’s some of the haul from a short afternoon stroll around the market ...



Next time I go (April) I’ll be taking a bigger suitcase!

This trip, which has reached proportions of almost a “world tour”, continues with a flight to ZL on Wednesday 3rd – watch this space!

…-.- de m0xpd