In the Pearl River Delta's electronics souks, AI lets the haggling happen

The electronics markets of Shenzhen are bewildering. These football-field-sized buildings seemingly sell almost anything, any bit of electronics – chip, component, connector – if you know where to look among the myriad stores in the ten-storey towers. To find find what you need in that riot of abundance you have to ask someone. But as an Australian-American lacking Chinese language skills, a question like "Do you know where I can find PIC16 microcontrollers?" doesn't have much chance of success. Pointing works when there's something to point at, but but lacks subtlety.