Huaqiangbei

Shenzhen, at the cutting edge of tech in China, has highest Weibo penetration rate

Posted: 12/14/2012 11:17 am

It could be argued that Shenzhen is becoming China’s very own Silicon Valley. It is the home of Tencent, China’s largest web company and creator of QQ and the WeChat/Weixin apps, and also Huawei, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. Shenzhen will also be home of Baidu’s impressive new international headquarters when it opens in 2015. This doesn’t even touch on the fact the vast majority of the world’s electronics are manufactured here or near here, and a burgeoning trade of gadgets and toys has made Huaqiangbei almost as famous as Tokyo’s Akibahara neighbourhood.

It should be no surprise then that Shenzhen also leads the way when it comes to internet penetration rates and use of Sina’s popular Weibo microblogging service. The Shenzhen Development Internet Research Report found that Shenzhen’s internet penetration rate is 76.8%, well ahead of Beijing and Shanghai. It means means 7.97 million people are online in the city.

Liu Bing, vice-president of China Internet Information Center, said that Shenzhen’s netizens infrastructure is better than most cities in China. Netizens between 20 to 40 year-old account for approximately 60%. Take a closer look on these young netizens, student groups are comparatively smaller while on-job groups are bigger. Netizens’ education level is higher than the national average.

Guangzhou’s rate stands at 72.9%, also ahead of Beijing and Shanghai.

As for Sina Weibo use, the report says it is used by 58.6% of netizens in Shenzhen, which is 10 percentage points higher than the national average.

At the same time, Shenzhen weibo users are more active. The ratio of netizens who use weibo 3 times per day is 16 percentage points higher than the average. Weibo users that spent more than 2 hours per day account for 35.3%.

Except for performance on weibo, Shenzhen netizens are also more active on SNS, blogs, BBS and online videos compared with netizens in other first-tier cities.

Perhaps Beijing’s vaunted Zhongguancun won’t be considered ground zero for China’s tech industry for much longer.

(h/t @Chomagerider)

Tagged: BaiduHuaqiangbeiInternetShenzhensinatechtencentWeibozhongguancun

Shenzhen man dies on wedding day after being injured during anti-Japan protests

Posted: 10/9/2012 12:37 pm

Deng Junbo, who was hospitalized after falling off a rail during anti-Japan protests on Shenzhen’s Shennan Boulevard last month, died after more than two weeks in hospital, Southern Metropolis Daily reports.

To add insult to injury, the 27 year-old died Tuesday October 2 at Shenzhen No.2 People’s Hospital, the day he was due to marry his fiance.

Deng came from Hong’an City in Hubei Province and worked as an engineer at an electronic factory in Fuyong in Baoan District. On September16, he went to Huaqiang Bei with his colleagues during the height of the anti-Japan protests. About 1:10pm they were on Shennan Avenue. There’s no definitive word they were participating, but they may have been. On the way back to work, they climbed over a road guardrail.

As they were climbing the rail, it collapsed. Deng’s injuries were the most serious as his leg was trapped under the rail and his head smashed into the ground, spilling lots of blood.

Despite being at his bedside for much of the time, his fiance’s goodwill and the best efforts of doctors could not save him.

One netizen lamented that his patriotism had brought lasting pain to two families. Another inquired why the official media wasn’t making more of the story. Another, possibly sarcastically said that he was the latest casualty in China’s ongoing war with Japan.

Should we join others in calling Deng the first casualty of the protests?

Tagged: Baoan DistrictDeng JunboFuyongHong'an CityHuaqiangbeiShennan Boulevard

New, unreleased iPhone floating around Shenzhen if you have a spare RMB50k

Posted: 08/22/2012 10:29 am

The suspense is building for the release of Apple’s next iPhone, but leaked photos indicate the phone — or a version of it — is already all over Shenzhen, where the device is expected to be manufactured.

Several tech websites are reporting that the case of the new iPhone has been circulating in the city for quite sometime, which helps manufacturers prepare new cases and bumpers in time for launch. It’s believed Apple will unveil the newest iPhone, which some people are calling the iPhone 5, on September 12.

The leaked case shows a much longer device, but the width appears the same, which will continue to allow one-handed typing.

While parts of the new phone may be circulating around Huaqiangbei, the cost of borrowing (that’s right, they’re not for sale as far as we know) the components for 24 hours equals the price of more than three new Retina Macbook Pros: RMB50,000. Worth it?

One wonders what the deposit will be, if the borrowing cost is RMB50k.

Photos below.

Tagged: AppleHuaqiangbeiiPhoneiPhone 5Technology

Public officials in Shenzhen volunteer to shine shoes

Posted: 05/22/2012 12:16 pm

As Mr Huang was going about his business in Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei area, he decided to stop and get his shoes shined. He sat on a stool and said to the worker who squatted before him, “Shine my shoes” and the worker complied.

After the worker began shining his shoes, Huang noticed a badge on the worker and his colleagues’ uniform which said “Volunteering Public Official.” Huang asked, “Are you public officials?” The official replied, “yes, we’re doing this for free.”

Huang expressed discomfort at having a public official shine his shoes, and tried to take his foot away, but the official said, “Sit still, I’m nearly finished,” according to gmw.cn. Huang then joined several onlookers in taking a photograph of the scene with his mobile phone.

Zheng Danjiang of the city’s Auditing Bureau is among the more than 4000 public officials who took part in the volunteering activity, which also included maintaining order at taxi ranks and sweeping roads. He praised the activity as improving communication between citizens and officials.

In order to train for shining shoes, the officials must first shine their own. Although many officials feel self-conscious at first, within minutes, most of them are enthusiastically shouting at passers-by, offering free shoe-shine service.

Although the service is free, some citizens have offered to give a donation, but the officials have refused.

Weibo users have expressed skepticism about the activity. One named Unhappy Nana asked what the ulterior motives were, Another pointed out that Mr Huang would be at the mercy of the officials next time he had to get anything done.

Tagged: Auditing BureauHuaqiangbeiPublic OfficialsRoad SweepingTaxi RanksVolunteering Public OfficialZheng Danjiang

Crowds gather in Huaqiangbei, gang fighting?

Posted: 03/24/2011 5:25 pm

Sina Weibo was all atwitter around 5pm on Thursday regarding what appeared to be a major scuffle in the Huaqiangbei area of Shenzhen. More than 500 people posted comments to Weibo, but nobody seems to know what was going on.

All we know is there was a large crowd on the scene, as well as several police officers. We hope to post more information as we find out, so check back later.

UPDATE (21:17):

Details are still scarce, but we are at least getting some second hand information. First, all references to the event can no longer be found on Sina Weibo, including the photo we’ve included in this post.

@mic tweeted us (@thenanfang) to let us know that it was a gang related confrontation with the police. He said: “Seems to be a gang fighting, hundreds of tenants of Zhuowang Building against with police, for some unknown reasons”

As always, if you know anything let us know and we can pass it on.

Tagged: CrowdHappening NowHuaqiang BeiHuaqiangbeiPoliceProtestShenzhenUnrest

Knock-off mobile phone makers run into trouble in Shenzhen

Posted: 03/9/2011 6:00 am

The prices of mobile phones are going down faster than a beer at a frat house, and that is causing problems for some of China’s “no name” brand phones. Huaqiangbei is famous for being ground zero for mobile phones in Shenzhen, but declining prices on legitimate brands such as Nokia and Samsung are putting the squeeze on manufacturers. The Shenzhen Daily reports there are 3,000 manufacturers of knock-off (more commonly known as shanzhai) mobile phones in the Huaqiangbei area, and sales are down 12% already this year.

Phone buyers now have higher requirements in looking for mobile phones, and more buyers are buying branded phones plus around 300 new brands of registered mobile phones are released in the market since last year. For a unbranded mobile phone maker to release a new model the need to invest around one million yuan. Investing in making new mobile phones will help maintain their market share of unbranded phones but with a risk of bankruptcy if it doesn’t sell well.

This risk have forced companies to go out of business, and many said the knockoff mobile phone industry should undergo restructuring. With newer and intense market competition will surely out phase manufacturers, while those with a strong research and development ability will stay a little longer.

In nearby Hong Kong, some Nokia-branded phones are being given away with the purchase of other electronic items, underscoring how far their value has plummeted in recent years.

As bleak as the picture seems for knock-off mobile phone makers, Huaqiangbei, at last check, still had a vast selection of devices. So no need to panic…. yet.