Shenzhen

China COUNTRY

12,356,820 CITY POPULATION

Sub-provincial City GOVERNMENT TYPE

Introduction

Shenzhen is also known as Shumchun, and it’s a major sub-provincial city located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. It forms part of the Pearl River Delta megalopolis, bordering Hong Kong across the Sham Chun River to the south, Huizhou to the northeast and Dongguan to the northwest, and shares maritime boundaries with Guangzhou, Zhongshan and Zhuhai to the west and southwest across the estuary.

Shenzhen is a coastal city in the south of Guangdong Province, neighboring Daya Bay and Dapeng Bay to the east, Pearl River Estuary and Lingdingyang to the west, and Dongguan and Huizhou to the north and Hong Kong to the south. It is only 41 kilometers (25 miles) from Hong Kong. Benefiting from the superior location and China’s reform and opening-up policy, Shenzhen has become a modern and international metropolis since 1978. Dubbed as ‘China Silicon,’ today’s Shenzhen gathers more than 14,000 high-tech companies, including Huawei, Lenovo and Tencent. It also becomes the innovation hub as a new generation of start-ups emerging, which makes it the most competitive and innovative city in China.

Data and facts

Shenzhen is the fifth most populous city proper in China, with a population of 12,528,300 in the city as of 2017. With a total area of 1,992 km², Shenzhen has a population density of 6,889 inhabitants per square kilometer.
It’s the world’s fastest-growing city in the Past 40 Years. This is the most eye-catching Shenzhen fact recognized worldwide. In August of 1980, a special economic zone was set in Shenzhen. In the following nearly 40 years, Shenzhen has grown from a small fishing village into a dynamic international metropolis. In 1979, Shenzhen’s GDP was only CNY 197 million, with a per capita GDP of CNY 606. By 2018, Shenzhen’s GDP has reached CNY 2.42 trillion, with a per capita GDP of CNY 189,568. The population had also grown from 20,000 in 1979 to 13,026,600 in 2018.
As an international metropolis, Shenzhen has many skyscrapers. By 2018, Shenzhen had 262 skyscrapers above 150 meters (492 feet), ranking third in the world, behind Hong Kong and New York only. Ping An Financial International Center is located in the commercial district of Futian District, with a total of 118 storeys and a height of 592.5 meters (648 yards). It is the tallest skyscraper in Shenzhen. KingKey 100 Financial Center is 441.8 meters (483 yards) high with 100 storeys. It ranks second highest buildings in Shenzhen.
Shenzhen has adopted 144-hour and 24-hour visa-free transit policies and 5 days visa-on-arrival policy for overseas visitors from most countries and regions, making it easier for foreign tourists to come to Shenzhen for travel or business.
Although Shenzhen is situated about a degree south of the Tropic of Cancer, due to the Siberian anticyclone, it has a warm, monsoon-influenced, humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa). Winters are mild and relatively dry, due in part to the influence of the South China Sea, and frost is very rare; it begins dry but becomes progressively more humid and overcast.
Shenzhen is surrounded by mountains and sea, with beautiful scenery, long beaches and islands, sea cliffs and reefs, forming a series of beautiful scenery. It has been rated as “China's Eight Most Beautiful Coast”, with Dameisha Beach, Xiaomeisha Beach, Xichong Beach and many others worth exploring. The number of theme parks also ranks top in China, including Splendid China, Window of the World, Happy Valley, and Overseas Chinese Town East.
With its reputation for prosperity and opportunity, Shenzhen has become a magnet for the young, the bold, and the ambitious from all across China. It has the youngest average age of residents in hina and is a city of migrants.
With a Wealth of Green Spaces, Shenzhen is China’s Most Garden Rich City.

Administration

Shenzhen has direct jurisdiction over nine administrative Districts and one New District, which is management areas, not administrative divisions registered under the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The Politics of Shenzhen in Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China. The Mayor of Shenzhen is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Shenzhen or Shenzhen Municipal Government. However, in the city's dual party-government governing system, the Mayor has less power than the Communist Party of Shenzhen Municipal Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "CPC Party Chief of Shenzhen" or "Communist Party Secretary of Shenzhen."

Economy

Shenzhen was the first of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to be established by paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. As a SEZ, Shenzhen is given the privilege to embrace market capitalism policies under the guise of "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics," unlike other cities in Mainland China, which is based on a planned economy. As of 2018, Shenzhen has a nominal GDP of 2.42 trillion RMB (HK$2.87 trillion), which recently had surpassed neighboring Hong Kong's GDP of HK$2.85 trillion and Guangzhou's GDP of 2.29 trillion RMB (HK$2.68 trillion), making the economic output of Shenzhen the third largest out of Chinese cities, trailing behind Shanghai and Beijing. In addition, Shenzhen's GDP growth between 2016 and 2017 of 8.8% surpassed that of Hong Kong and Singapore, with 3.7% and 2.5%, respectively. With a market capitalization of US$2.5 trillion as of 30 November 2018, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) is the 8th largest exchange in the world.

Infrastructure

Shenzhen is the second largest transportation hub in Guangdong and South China, trailing behind the provincial capital of Guangzhou. Shenzhen has a developed extensive public transportation system, covering rapid transit, buses and taxis, most of which can be accessed by either using a Shenzhen Tong card or using QR codes generated by WeChat mini-programs.

Regarding air transport, Shenzhen is served by its own Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport and the neighboring Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). Located 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the center of the city, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport serves as the main hub for passenger airlines Shenzhen Airlinesand Donghai Airlines and the main hub for cargo airlines Jade Cargo International, SF Airlines, and UPS Airlines.

The Shenzhen Metro serves as the city's rapid transit system. The extension opened on 8 December 2019 put the network at 303.4 kilometers (188.5 miles) of trackage operating on 8 lines with 215 stations. Shenzhen is served by seven inter-city railway stations: Futian, Guangmingcheng, Pingshan, Shenzhen (also known as Luohu Railway Station) Shenzhen East, Shenzhen North, and Shenzhen West. As of August 2019, the city's bus system encompasses over 900 lines, with a total of over 16,000 electric vehicles, the largest of its kind in the world.

Technology

A large number of outstanding Chinese IT and technology companies such as Huawei, Tencent, Mindray, Netac, Xunlei, Kingdee, DJI, Han's Laser, BGI and BYD were born in Shenzhen. Meanwhile, Shenzhen is also the largest electronic product distribution center in China and even Asia. Here is an interesting Shenzhen fact: go to Huaqiangbei Electronics Market and you can get all the components needed to assemble a mobile phone or a computer. Therefore Shenzhen is known as the “Silicon Valley of China.” The city in the last decade has made strides into the hardware industry and has recently become a significant hub for companies from Europe, the United States, and the rest of Asia.