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Letter from Shenzhen

logicmag.io · 2,165 words · saved by 1 readers

A dispatch from the Other Bay Area.

Letter from Shenzhen Xiaowei R. Wang Chinese tech isn’t an imitation of its American counterpart. It’s a completely different universe. 山寨 (Shanzhai) translated directly means mountain stronghold, and that’s where my journey appropriately begins. I’m in a small town in Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces in China, where the GDP per capita is the lowest in the country. But the lack of disposable income does not prevent the glimmer of aspirational consumerism from fueling this live sales seminar that I am overhearing. In a large conference room, within a hotel that is more often used by couple

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