In 1970, when I got a distant view of the territory that would become the city of Shenzhen, the population of the area was 22,000 to 30,000 people. Primarily, it was a fishing village. Shenzhen now has a population of over 17 million and is the third largest city in China. This is not the place to visit if you are looking for traditional China. It is the place to come to view fantastic skyscrapers. Shenzhen boasts over 440 buildings over 500 feet tall, 21 over a thousand feet, and one, the Ping An Financial Centre, almost 2000 feet high. It’s the fourth tallest skyscraper in the world. Here are a few through-the-bus-window shots. You can get much better pictures from the internet but, gee, these are mine. The top-middle one is the Ping An Centre.
Our first stop was in a public park, which gave us a view of many of the buildings. We were then dropped in a shopping area for a bit. Prices for the goods we viewed were surprisingly inexpensive.
Yes, there was a McDonalds, as well as KFC and a few other familiar fast food joints in the area. Prices were 1/2 to a 1/3 of what we would pay.
I’ve used Google translate often on this trip. Translations can be a little, shall we say, too literal. What looked like Boston Cream Pie had a sign saying “Durian forgets to return.” Our guide said it meant the cake (Durian) was so good you would forget about returning home. On the right is a vending machine selling bottles of plain and flavored waters for 40 to 90 cents each.
The city center is not totally devoid of art and sculpture.
Shenzhen became China’s first “special economic zone” in 1979, the stimulus for its phenomenal growth. “Shenzhen speed” became the description of hyper-speed development. As one lecturer declared: “In China, the government bureaucracy is filled with engineers, who can’t stop themselves from building. In the U.S., the government bureaucracy is filled with lawyers, who can’t help but stop the building.”
Next? We sail east to Xiamen, but not before a welcome day at sea.
