DE S T INAT IONS
From factory floor to
innovation hub,
Shenzhen’s exponential growth
continues WOR D S T AM SI N C O CK S A
Shenzhen is a world away from the collection of fishing villages it used to be
busin e s s t r a ve lle r . c o m
mid the soaring glass towers and modern buildings of Shenzhen’s Futian CBD is a rare pocket of idiosyncratic low-rise buildings. The ramshackle structures of Gangxia village are known
as “handshake buildings” after their densely packed formation, meaning neighbours could literally shake hands through facing windows. Crammed full of tiny apartments,
independent shops, food stalls and more, the “urban village” is bustling with life and atmosphere, providing affordable accommodation for the massive influx of migrants and low- income workers, a melting pot of street food cuisine from Hunan and Sichuan and shops catering to every possible need and want. Tis charismatic settlement is one
of the last of its kind, a symptom of the rapid changes that have seen Shenzhen turn from a collection of fishing villages with some 30,000 inhabitants into a metropolis of ten million people in less than 40 years. However, Gangxia’s days are
numbered. Occupying prime space in the heart of Shenzhen, it won’t be long before the city absorbs this urban village as it has many others. Happily for the owners of these dilapidated constructions, the payoff will be enough to set them up for life, with property prices in Shenzhen soaring to unheard-of figures. “We call them billionaire villages,”
jokes Grace Huang, marketing communications manager for Hilton Futian. “Property prices here used to be 10,000 yuan (£1,164) per square
metre, but now they’re 100,000 yuan (£11,640). Tis is the only village left and according to government plans, it will be removed by 2019 or 2020, at the latest.”
While the rapid emergence of huge cities in China is not uncommon, Shenzhen is a special case for a number of well-documented reasons. In 1979, it was established as the first Special Economic Zone in China as part of Deng Xiaoping’s experimentation for reform and development. Te experiment has been a resounding success. Opening up to foreign investment, combined with proximity to Hong Kong, turned Shenzhen into a manufacturing hub. Enormous foreign-run factories from Foxconn to Apple moved in, and Shenzhen became an electronics hub,
SHENZHEN AT A GLANCE Shenzhen is the closest Chinese city to Hong Kong, just across the border from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, in Guangdong province. It forms part of a megalopolis in the Pearl River Delta, the world’s largest urban area in both size and population. Its growth accelerated after 1980 when it was designated China’s first Special Economic Zone (SEZ), and foreign investment was encouraged, particularly in electronics. The population is around 12.5 million, and its position as the “factory floor of the world” ensures it also has one of the busiest container ports in the world.
JUNE 2 0 18
53
→
GETTY IMAGES
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
