Shenzhen

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Shenzhen (Template:Zh-cp; Hakka:cim₁ zun₄; Cantonese Jyutping: sam₁ zan₃, Yale: sām jan; Sham Chun or Shamchun in old or Hong Kong documents; lit. deep drains) is a sub-provincial city of Guangdong province in southern Mainland China, located at the border with Hong Kong.

Image:Shenzhen view from park.JPG

1 History
2 Administration
3 Geography
4 Demographics
5 Economy
6 Integration with Hong Kong
7 Port
8 Transportation
9 Miscellaneous
- 9.1 Colleges and universities
10 Panorama
11 See also
12 External links

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History

The one-time fishing village of Shenzhen, singled out by late Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, is the first of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) of China. It was originally established in 1978 due to its proximity to Hong Kong, then a prosperous British colony. The SEZ was created to be an experimental ground of capitalism in communist China. The location was chosen to attract industrial investments from Hong Kong since the two places share the same language, dialect and culture. The concept was proved to be a great success, propelling the further opening up of China and continuous economic reform. Shenzhen eventually became one of the largest cities in the Pearl River Delta region which is one of the economic powerhouses of China and is the largest maufacturing base in the world.

Shenzhen, formerly known as Bao'an County (寶安縣), was promoted to prefecture level, directly governed by Guangdong province, in November 1979. In May 1980, Shenzhen was formally nominated as a 'special economic zone', the first one of its kind in China. It was given the right of provincial-level economic administration in November 1988.

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Administration

Image:Shenzhen map2005.jpg Shenzhen Municipality comprises six districts: Luohu (罗湖), Futian (福田), Nanshan (南山), Yantian (盐田), Bao'an (宝安), and Longgang (龙岗). The Special Economic Zone comprises Luohu, Futian, Nanshan, and Yantian but not Bao'an and Longgang.

Located in the centre of the SEZ and adjacent to Hong Kong, Luohu is the financial and trading centre. It covers an area of 78.89 km². Futian, where the Municipal Government is situated, is at the heart of the SEZ and covers an area of 78.04 km². Covering an area of 164.29 km², Nanshan is the centre for high-tech industries and it is situated in the west of the SEZ. Outside the SEZ, Bao'an (712.92 km²) and Longgang (844.07 km²) are located to the north-west and north-east of Shenzhen respectively. Yantian (75.68 km²) is known for logistics. Yantian Port is the second largest deepwater container terminal in China.

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Geography

The boomtown of Shenzhen is located in the Pearl River Delta. It covers an area of 2,020 square kilometres (780 square miles), with a population of 10 million. Shenzhen is a sub-tropical maritime region and its average temperature is 22.4 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit).

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Demographics

Shenzhen has seen its population and activity develop rapidly since the establishment of the SEZ, with its population rising to 10 million by 2005 (with 70% of that number being residents without a permanent hukou). Among the reasons for this development is the cost of labour, which is substantially lower than in neighbouring Hong Kong.

According to the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, in 2002, 7,200 Hong Kong residents commuted daily to Shenzhen for work, and 2,200 students from Shenzhen commuted to school in Hong Kong. Though neighbouring each other, daily commuters still need to pass through customs and immigration checkpoints as travel between the SEZ and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) is restricted.

China relaxed travel restrictions to allow individuals from southern cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as Beijing and Shanghai, to visit Hong Kong in late July 2003. Previously, mainland travellers could only visit the city as part of tour groups. See Individual Visit Scheme.

Immigration into Shenzhen from the Chinese interior is heavily restricted by the hukou system. One consequence is that just outside of Shenzhen there are large towns which consist of a large number of migrants from the Chinese interior who attempt to enter the city.

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Economy

In 2001, the working population reached 3.3 million. Though the secondary sector of industry had the largest share (1.85 million in 2001, increased by 5.5%), the tertiary sector of industry is growing fast (1.44 million in 2001, increased by 11.6%). The GDP per capita was ¥136071 (US$16,430) in 2001, ranked no. 1 among 659 Chinese cities, per the Guangdong Provincial Statistical Bureau (the city itself quoted a much cheaper number equivalent to US$5,605).[1][2]

Shenzhen is also a major manufacturing center in China.

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange was established on December 1, 1990. It is one of the two stock exchanges in mainland China (the other is in Shanghai). Analysts in Hong Kong now say that Shenzhen, which is already taking market share from Hong Kong in handling China's exports, is well on its way to replacing Shanghai as the mainland's largest port. TNT has a large distribution hub based in this city, which handles large amounts of export shipments.

Apple Computers also have a manufacturing plant based in this city, it appears to be shipping a large majority of the new Intel based machines at this stage.

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Integration with Hong Kong

Many visitors that cross the Hong Kong SAR/mainland China border to Shenzhen go for the shopping, where goods and services are supposedly far cheaper than those in Hong Kong. However, without coming prepared knowing the prices of specific items the goods may end up being far more expensive than in Hong Kong while others are only marginally cheaper, even after a long phase of negotiating. The lack of a price differential and inconvenience may make it better off buying in Hong Kong.

The largest of the shopping malls is Lo Wu Commercial City, situated close to the railway station. This contains an overwhelming array of beauty parlours and stores selling clothes, handbags, fabric, jewellery and electrical goods as well as many vendors of pirated software, DVDs, counterfeit goods and mobile phones. With the number of tourists, it is also a popular location for prostitution, drugs, pickpockets and begging.

As of 2005, a modern subway links Lo Wu with most of Shenzhen along its east-west axis.

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Port

Main article: Port of Shenzhen

Nine container berths are operational as of 2004. Rapid growth, lower labour costs and its proximity to factories in Guangdong province have put pressure on Hong Kong's container terminals. In 2005, Shenzhen is the world's 4th busiest port measured by container traffic, handling 16.2 million TEUs, a 19% increase from the previous year. Growth in Shenzhen's 2005 cargo traffic was faster than Hong Kong's Kwai Chung container terminal, where volume rose 2%. [3]

Yantian International Container Terminals, Chiwan Container Terminals, Shekou Container Terminals, China Merchants Port and Shenzhen Haixing (Mawan port) are the major port terminals in Shenzhen.

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Transportation

Shenzhen can be reached by air, train, sea or road.

Shenzhen Airport is 35km from central Shenzhen and connects the city with many other parts of China, as well as some international destinations. It is normally cheaper for people based in Hong Kong to fly to Mainland Chinese destinations from Shenzhen than from Hong Kong, and it is usually cheaper for those based in southern Mainland China to fly out of Hong Kong to international destinations. Shenzhen airport is conveniently connected by coach directly to Hong Kong airport for a fee of ¥200 or HK$200. The airport is connected to the city by an airport bus route 330 which terminates at Hualian Dasha in Shennan Zhong Lu. Other city buses also connect with the airport, but some only turn round at the roundabout outside leaving passengers with a long walk.

Shenzhen Railway Station is located at the junction of Jianshe Lu, Heping Lu and Renmin Nan Lu and provides links to different parts of China. There are frequent trains to Guangzhou, plus long-distance trains to Beijing, Jiujiang, Maoming, Shantou and other destinations. The train journey from Hong Kong's Kowloon Tong KCR station to Lo Wu's border crossing takes approximately 40 minutes at a cost of (in September 2003) HK$33, or HK$66 for first class. Trains run every 3-8 minutes from 5:30am to 11:00pm and the border crossing is open daily from 6:30am to midnight.

There is another railway station located in Nanshan District, Shenzhen Xi, which is used for a small number of long distance trains, such as the one to Hefei.

Since February 2003, the road border crossing with Hong Kong at Huanggang has been open 24 hours a day. The journey can be made by private vehicle or by bus. A shuttle bus connects it with the Lok Ma Chau Public Transport Interchange on the other side of the border.

A metro system opened on 28th December 2004. It has two lines, one from Luohu (Lo Wu & Shenzhen railway stations) to Window of the World, and the other from Huanggang to a point further north. For details, please refer to the article about Shenzhen Metro.

Taxis are metered and come in three colours. Red taxis may travel anywhere, green ones are restricted to outside the SEZ, and yellow ones are restricted to inside the SEZ.

Shenzhen is also connected by fast ferries linking Shekou, on the west edge of the SEZ with Zhuhai, Macau, Hong Kong International Airport, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

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Miscellaneous

Although Shenzhen enjoys a good reputation for shopping and travel, some Hong Kong citizens are concerned about the relatively high crime rate in Shenzhen. Reports of Hong Kong businessmen, tourists or travellers being robbed and kidnapped in Shenzhen are not uncommon in Hong Kong newspapers.

Shenzhen has been a sister city to Brisbane, Australia since June 1992. Shenzhen further has a regional partnership with Nuremberg, Germany.