DE S T INAT IONS
churning out up to 90 per cent of the world’s gadgets and putting the former fishing village on the map. Te ongoing changes in Shenzhen
are so rapid that visitors returning every few years are shocked at the rate of transformation. Luohu (Lo Wu) was the first established district and most important part of Shenzhen. Today it’s famed for its shopping and nightlife, as well as serving as an important border crossing into Hong Kong. About five years ago, the commercial focus shifted to Futian, the current CBD that hosts the majority of financial institutions (including the towering Ping An Finance Centre) and more recently local government offices. Virtually every international luxury hotel brand has claimed a piece of
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New neighbourhoods such as Shekou are populated by growing numbers of expats and entrepreneurs
the pie: Shangri-La, Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Marco Polo, Sheraton, Hilton, Langham – and there’s still more to come, with recent signings for a Marriott and Park Hyatt in Luohu and a Mandarin Oriental due to open in 2018. “There’s still a lot of demand,” explains the Hilton’s Huang. “We’re seeing more corporate travellers than ever. We used to have more leisure travellers, but now we’re 95 per cent business.”
TECH GIANTS Growth has already spread beyond the boundaries of the “new” Futian CBD, moving farther west into
JUNE 2 0 18
Nanshan. While many cities clamber for the prestige of being called “Asia’s Silicon Valley”, the title is most frequently used in relation to Shenzhen. The “factory floor of the world” has proven a fertile breeding ground for technological innovation. After all, there are few better places to find parts, supplies or manufacturers, with famous electronic malls such as the SEG Electronics Market in Futian, whose eight floors offer just about anything you could imagine, from circuit boards to LED lights. There’s also the Huaqiang North Commercial Street electronics market, the largest
TOP: The new high-speed
railway from Guangzhou to
Hong Kong via Shenzhen
ABOVE: Futian CBD
of its kind, with around 20 different shopping malls dedicated to parts. This environment has given birth
to a number of tech giants including Tencent, Huawei and ZTE. Other major tech players have also relocated and set up shop in the city, including Alibaba and Baidu, along with droves of start-up entrepreneurs eager to jump on the wave. According to a Financial Times report, Shenzhen is home to more than 180 start-up incubators and has exploded in terms of online services and new IoT (Internet of Things) applications. One of the most successful start-ups CONTINUED ON PAGE 78
busin e s s t r a ve lle r . c o m
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