scottyallen

Create high quality content that other people will appreciate, and put it out in the world for free.

Sorry, I wasn’t clear enough here.

Objectivity in storytelling/journalism is a lie.

Stories are ALWAYS biased by what the storyteller chooses to show. It impossible to show everything. So what you choose to show is the bias.

Here’s an example: Is Shenzhen an industrial metropolis, or a green leafy jungle? It’s both.

I tend to make videos about the industrial side of Shenzhen, so I tend to choose footage to match that.

When I go walk in the park, I sometimes feel guilty I’m not showing how beautiful it is. That by not showing this side of Shenzhen, I’m presenting a very lopsided version.

But that’s not what people watch my videos for. They’re interested in the industrial side. I’m also not particularly interested in making videos about parks and beautiful landscapes. So I don’t.

“ And the fact that you admit that you’re afraid of angering CCP members - isn’t that terrifying to you?” Yes, of course it is. Why do you think I’m so careful about what I say and show? What do you expect me to do? Speak publicly about it and risk never being allowed back to China? What could I possibly say that’s not already been said by thousands of others?

Instead, I’m trying to make the most of the opportunity I have to say something unique, that few others are saying, and hopefully bring people closer together, rather than further push them apart. We need more of that in the world right now.

Objectivity is a lie. I want to do a video about this at some point, but in learning to make videos, I’ve learned there’s no way to tell an unbiased story.

That being said, I’ll be the first to admit my videos are biased.

There’s tons of China bashing in the world. Some of it deserved, a lot of it not. There are a lot of very lazy journalists in the world that follow very old narratives about China because they’re too lazy and overworked to go find new ones.

I could choose to follow these narratives and give viewers what they expect to hear about China. But I think it’s far more interesting and useful to the world to talk about the parts people _haven’t_ heard yet. The parts that I think are cool and amazing and exciting. All of that is real and genuine.

I’m also definitely afraid of angering the CCP gods. I’m also careful to not put anyone in harms way because of something I showed in one of my videos. And I don’t think it’s fair to shit all over a factory who has invited me in as their guest.

I feel like I walk a very fine line with what I show. I think there’s more value to be had by continuing to have access to show an authentic view of what China and Chinese factories are like, even if I can’t always directly comment on it.

The alternative is potentially showing one or two really critical things that are already being covered well by more traditional outlets, and then never being allowed back. Which seems like a huge waste of an opportunity to create some good in the world.

As for factories sponsoring videos, I turn down far more than I accept. Those videos are intended to be about how things are made and how factories work, not reviews or advertisements of a given factory. I could make that same video at a number of factories. They offer to pay to be the factory in shoot it at because it gets them a lot of useful visibility. I insist on having full creative control over the video. The only input they have is what’s confidential that I can’t show on camera (usually just customer designs or logos). If a factory is bad, or makes a bad product, I won’t accept the sponsorship. But I’m not going to go to a factory, sponsored or not, and then badmouth them. That’s rude, and would quickly mean I wouldn’t be invited to other factories to make the educational content I’m so excited to make.

I’m here in Shenzhen now, after being in the US all summer. Not really feeling any anti-western feelings so far, though I was worried about that given everything that’s going on with the trade war and Hong Kong. I’ve also only been in Shenzhen a day, and prior to that was insulated in a factory up north shooting for a week, and didn’t really see much of the regularly world outside the factory and hotel.

We’ll see. I’m here for the next few weeks. But right now it feels surprisingly like the Shenzhen and China I’ve gotten to know and love, with all the good and the bad.

That being said, whether I want to really double down on a life in Shenzhen is on my mind right now. It’s difficult being a foreigner here, for lots of different reasons. Everything is harder if you’re not a Chinese citizen and don’t have a chinese id card. There’s no path to being allowed to stay in China permanently, so the rug could be pulled out from underneath you at any moment. There’s also just simple quality of life things. It’s harder to eat healthy food here. Shenzhen, like San Francisco, is a place people come to seek their fortune. Which makes it very transient, and a hard place to build long term friendships.

But yeah, so far, my read is that there a lot of what’s said about leaving China because of anti-western feelings is made up for views, and that folks left for other reasons. It’s apparently trendy to bash China right now.

Scotty, the guy in the video here. Sorry I'm late to the party. It was 165 rmb, so about $25.

Yes, absolutely! More videos are on the way.

> With one caveat, those folks selling parts definitely treats me with a lot less friendliness than they do with foreign buyers, especially when you're buying just one.

Yeah, that really sucks. There's definitely a lot of pretty apparent white privilege here, which I try to be really aware of and not take unfair advantage of. But it can be tricky to navigate at times.

Scotty here, the dude that made the video. I'm not sure I can answer the first set of questions about why phones are fragile. I think it probably has something to do with consumer expectations/tastes around look and size of phones though.

But I can give you some answers for your second set of questions.

> So what does all that Shentzen parts retail look like when you're building something new?

The markets originally started as wholesale components and tools markets to service the electronics factories in Shenzhen, which make a significant fraction of the worlds electronics, particularly commodity electronics. So it actually mostly caters to people building new things, versus repair. But I didn't show any of that in the video. My understanding is that the cell phone repair markets are comparatively much newer, and obviously cater much less to large scale production of new goods.

> Can you go into those buildings with a bill of materials and come out ready to load your pick and place machine?

Yes, absolutely. There are multiple buildings of distributers that do nothing but sell components on reels to load in pick and place machines. You can even buy a pick and place machine there if you need.

> Can you get boards fabbed one-off while you wait?

Not quite while you wait. There are a bunch of booths in the markets advertising these sorts of services though. I think the fastest on the PCB fab itself (without assembling any components on it) is 12-hour turn time, and that's pushing it a bit. 24-hour turn time expedited but pretty standard, and 3-4 days is generally the non-expedited standard for the board house I've used. Sometimes a bit longer if they're really busy. A courier on a motorcycle will bring it to your door.

> Or is it all about repair and simple mods?

The cell phone markets are mainly about repair/refurbishing and simple mods, as far as I can tell. But I don't fully know - there's still a ton more for me to learn. I still feel like I'm barely scratching the surface here.

I think one of the huge differences in east vs west electronics/maker/hacker communities is the approach of DIY vs using production services. In the US, as a hobbyist with a limited budget, if you want to have a PCB made, you either send it off to OSH Park and wait weeks, or you try and make it yourself and get pretty low quality results. Here in Shenzhen, nobody even considers it. You upload the file to professional board house, and standard turn around is 3-4 days. For $30 more, you can get 24-hour turnaround.

So there's just this really different approach of "what can I make myself with the tools I own" versus "what professional services do I have access to, and which of my friends have factories with the right production equipment".

As a result, you see stark difference in quality of initial prototypes.

The flip side is that I think western makers/hackers are more focused on coming up with completely new ideas, with less of a focus on quality of execution, whereas a lot of chinese makers/hackers/manufacturers are more focused on iterative improvement - how can I be really clever to make something cheaper or easier to produce, that looks like a professional product. Both sides are very clever and creative, but focus on different aspects.

That really means a lot, especially coming from you. I tried really, really hard to accurately portray Shenzhen and the markets, and it's nice to hear from a local maker that I've at least partly succeeded. Thank you:)

Hi, Scotty here - the guy that made the video. bspn pretty much nails it. I don't really know for certain, but I think a lot of the parts are used/refurbished from original iPhones, with a couple parts that are really good copies mixed in. Everything is pretty top notch quality as far as I can tell though.

And the screen repair booth art is totally legit. As is their workbench organization scheme.

My 92 year old grandfather is still a full time practicing doctor. My father and my aunts have talked to him about retiring for a while now. Being a doctor is who he is - if he gives that up, I'm afraid of what will happen.

Nope - I actually quite like it in this instance. I don't tend to like it in the general case though, as it's usually done poorly.