Naomi Wu, The Cyborg Of Shenzhen

A fascinating portrait of the celebrated Chinese maker, biohacker and cyborg profile Naomi “RealSexyCyborg” Wu, as well as her home town Shenzhen. Transformed in a single generation from a coastal farming community to mega-metropolis ‘factory of the world’, Shenzhen is now working to rebrand itself as an innovation hub. An element of this has been a drive to develop the makers' and innovators' communities, and a growth in makerspaces.

In this portrayal of Naomi Wu, we learn about how she started on her path to becoming a Youtube sensation in the maker community. She explains her experiments, how she developed her online persona and how she thinks of her clothing not just as function and aesthetics but also as a way of hacking herself.

She also discusses the obstacles she’s facing as a woman in tech, in China and in the world. This article has also raised controversy and received criticism from Naomi Wu herself. She accuses VICE of overstepping her boundaries of not wanting to highlight her personal life.

Despite harassment and conspiracy theories calling her a hoax, Wu is an inspiration to many makers and biohackers and continues to fight back with a global flock of passionate fans by her side.