There’s a lot of online discussions about the technology development and life in China. But if you actually care to understand and work with the people here you need to come and experience the country yourself.
Thanks for coming to Shenzhen with us
@pattssun!
Just came back from China, some early thoughts:
Life observations:
- the great firewall is not that great, so easy to get a vpn or an e-sim that has one
- hongkong is surprisingly really run-down, locals have said it’s way past its prime
- everyone of all ages in china doomscrolls (douyin/xiaohongshu for gen z, wechat for boomers)
- chinese immigration is hella efficient and automated with face recognition (i look chinese and have a 10-year visa tho)
- shenzhen has 18M people but the city does not feel dense at all
- china loves heavy packaging (delivery food, consumer goods, etc.)
- life is generally more convenient than in the US (safety, delivery food, transport, etc.)
Tech observations:
- speed is everything in china
- for software, consumer > b2b because chinese companies don’t trust each other for enterprise deals labor is cheap so b2b software can just be built in-house
- chinese VCs are super risk averse, that’s why the US is still the king of 0-1, while China thrives in the 1-100 (master of scale and second mover advantage)
- fierce national competition, copying each other is a given, most industries seem winner-takes-all
- chinese app UIs maximize optionality, that’s why they feel so dense and chaotic
- big culture of after-lunch naps in the workplace
- big companies have special trade schools right next to their factories to create a direct pipeline of loyal specialized workers