Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major Chinese city and global technology hub.
Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong, China, and a special economic zone located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary. It borders Hong Kong to the south, Dongguan to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, and Macau to the southwest. It has established itself as a premier global metropolis with a GDP that surpassed Hong Kong and Singapore in recent years, and is home to the world's fourth-busiest container port, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and numerous global technology corporations.
- population_2020
- 17.5 million
- special_economic_zone_established
- early 1980s
- location
- Guangdong, China, east bank of Pearl River estuary
- known_for
- global technology hub, Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Port of Shenzhen, special economic zone
- rankings
- Alpha- (global first-tier) city by GaWC; third-most-populous urban city in China; fourth-busiest container port; second-largest number of skyscrapers; fifth-highest number of billionaires; seventh-mos
Lore & Background
In the early 1980s, the reform and opening up introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in the city becoming the first special economic zone of China due to its close proximity to Hong Kong, attracting foreign direct investment and migrants. In thirty years, the city's economy and population boomed, emerging as a hub for technology, international trade, and finance.
Reader's Guide
Shenzhen's significance lies in its transformation from a largely rural village into a premier global metropolis and special economic zone, a model of China's reform and opening up. Its GDP has surpassed those of neighboring Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and it is now a city with one of the ten largest economies in the world. The city is a global technology hub, sometimes called China's Silicon Valley, home to large technology corporations such as Huawei, Tencent, DJI, and Oppo. It hosts the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, one of the largest stock exchanges in the world by market capitalization, and the Guangdong Free-Trade Zone. It is also the eighth-most competitive and largest financial center in the world, and the world's 18th largest city by scientific research output. A large portion of Shenzhen's population are migrants from all over China, and the city's population structure skews younger than most cities in China.
Did You Know?
- Shenzhen was named after a deep drain in paddy fields, with 'zhen' meaning 'ditch' or 'drain'.
- Shenzhen railway station was the last stop on the mainland Chinese section of the Kowloon–Canton Railway.
- Shenzhen is the largest automobile manufacturing city in China, home to the main operations of BYD Company.
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