Why global visitors are shopping in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei

When Pallavi Koonjul searched TikTok for places to visit in south China's Shenzhen, one destination kept appearing: Huaqiangbei.

The visitor from Mauritius was not there for a conventional souvenir. Walking through one of the world's largest electronics marketplaces, she stopped at a shop selling AI-powered plush toys.

"It's very new for me," she said, holding up one of the products. "I'm buying these to try."

Nearby, Dylan Brummer, a visitor from South Africa, had a longer shopping list: AI glasses, a laptop and a bigger television for his brother.

For a growing number of international visitors, scenes like these are adding another dimension to travel in China. Alongside food, culture and traditional tourist attractions, some are adding electronics markets, technology companies and new consumer gadgets to their itineraries.

From sightseeing to tech shopping

The trend comes as China continues to make inbound travel easier.

Ordinary passport holders from 50 countries can currently enter China without a visa for up to 30 days for purposes including tourism and business under China's unilateral visa-free policy. Separately, nationals of 55 countries are eligible for the country's 240-hour visa-free transit policy, which allows qualified travelers transiting to a third country or region to stay for up to 10 days and engage in tourism and business activities.

For Shenzhen, that growing international footfall is increasingly visible in Huaqiangbei, and what brings them here is not necessarily low prices. 

Brummer, for example, tried a pair of Chinese AI glasses and was surprised to find that they cost more than Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses. But what caught his attention was their functionality.

"The screen is better, and the translation is way better," he said. "When this gentleman was talking, I could read exactly what he was saying. It was pretty cool."

More than an electronics market

Huaqiangbei's appeal is closely tied to its unusual concentration of businesses.

According to the Huaqiangbei Subdistrict Office, some 115,000 business entities and 35 specialized electronics markets are packed into just 1.45 square kilometers, offering more than one million types of electronic components.

That density means a visitor can walk from a shop selling finished AI glasses to component suppliers, hardware companies, software developers and exporters within the same commercial district.

For entrepreneurs, that can make Huaqiangbei less a shopping mall than a place to turn an idea into a product.

Zhang Guoping, founder and CEO of Shenzhen CHUPAD Electronic Technology Co., has seen that process firsthand. His company was among the early developers of a dual-screen AI translation device, which allows two people speaking different languages to see translated conversations on opposite sides of the screen.

"It's really quick to develop a product here," Zhang said. "If you need a prototype or need to match hardware with software, companies might even work overnight to get it done for you."

"As long as you have the volume and the demand, we'll get it done."

For Zhang, proximity to suppliers also means products do not remain static. Feedback from overseas buyers can quickly become a new software function or hardware configuration, allowing companies to respond to changing demand without going through lengthy development cycles.

'Design in the morning, prototype in the afternoon'

That speed has long been one of Huaqiangbei's defining characteristics.

"Design in the morning, prototype in the afternoon, mass production the next day and global shipment within a week," said Xu Jiyue, deputy director of the Party and Administrative Office of Huaqiangbei Subdistrict.

Xu attributes that speed to more than four decades of accumulated electronics expertise, combined with Shenzhen's advanced manufacturing and service sectors.

The ecosystem also helps explain why Huaqiangbei continues to draw international business.

According to Xu, that area now records more than 8,000 foreign merchants and visitors from 183 countries and regions on an average day, making international sourcing part of the everyday rhythm of the market.

That international role is receiving renewed attention as Shenzhen prepares to host APEC meetings in 2026.The district is upgrading multilingual services, international payment support and visitor facilities to make the market easier for overseas visitors to navigate.