Welcome to Huaqiangbei, China’s massive maker’s market (GALLERY)

At the heart of Shenzhen, China lies a maker’s paradise called Huaqiangbei Road. It might well be the biggest electronics market in the world, rivaled only by Japan’s Akihabara and South Korea’s Yongsan.

Within lies stall after stall after stall of nearly every gadget, component, and tool imaginable. Over half a dozen city blocks are filled to the brim with crowded marketplaces, each ranging from four to 10 floors high. Photos hardly do it justice. The place is immense.

While the employees running the stalls might begrudgingly sell you a single switch or LED light, most of them act as manufacturer representatives. They prefer to do business in bulk, selling hundreds and thousands of their stock at one time with a direct line to the factory. And because this is China, most of the stuff is as cheap as it gets. That’s why Haxlr8r, China’s most active hardware accelerator, set up shop just down the street.

To better acquaint myself with Shenzhen’s exploding maker scene – home to many of China’s hardware startups – I grabbed my camera and embarked on a hike through the market. Despite referencing this English-language map provided by Seeed Studio, I often found myself disorientated among the throngs of booths. By the end, my feet ached, but I was inspired to give this hardware thing a shot and ordered a beginner’s Arduino kit online. As long as you know what to look for, you can leave the market prepared to build anything.

A bird’s eye view of the stalls. Each represents a different company.

Many workers spend their time chatting with customers on Taobao or other online shops.

Stall owners are rarely interested in selling their items piecemeal.

Without specific knowledge of what you’re looking for, shopping here can be daunting.

Whatever you do, don’t cut the red wire.