Learning from Shenzhen: China's Post-Mao Experiment from Special Zone to Model City is a 2017 collection of essays, co-edited by Mary Ann O'Donnell, Winnie Wong, and Jonathan Bach, and published by the University of Chicago Press. It discusses the development of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China and how it influenced the development of other places in China.
The title is a reference to the previous Chinese revolutionary slogan "Learning from Dazhai". [1]
The book has three sections for its essays, with each section being a different stage of development, [1] with essays exploring various aspects of Shenzhen. [2]
The first section is about the years 1979-1992, with the first experiments in capitalism initiated under Deng Xiaoping and the distinctions in ideology between capitalism and communism. [1] Chapter 2 "Heroes of the Special Zone: Modeling Reform and Its Limits" by Mary Ann O'Donnell discussed the politicians who built Shenzhen. "The Tripartite Origins of Shenzhen: Beijing, Hong Kong, and Bao’an" by Weiwen Huang, Chapter 3, explores aspects of urban planning of Shenzhen. Chapter 4 "How to Be a Shenzhener: Representations of Migrant Labor in Shenzhen’s Second Decade" by Eric Florence discusses how migrant workers are discussed in media sources. [2]
The second section is about the years 1992-2004 in regards to making exceptions for certain aspects and urban-rural divides. [1] Chapter 5 "Laying Siege to the Villages: The Vernacular Geography of Shenzhen" by Mary Ann O'Donnell discusses the interplay between rural areas and urban areas. [2] Emma Xin Ma and Adrian Blackwell wrote the chapter "The Political Architecture of the First and Second Lines", Chapter 6, where they discuss how the Frontier Closed Area, the border between Mainland China and Hong Kong, promotes the movement of goods and people while also preserving the characteristics of the respective areas, resulting in what June Wang (Chinese :王珺; pinyin :Wáng Jùn), of the City University of Hong Kong, calls a "paradoxical character". [1] Jonathan Bach's essay "“They Come in Peasants and Leave Citizens”: Urban Villages and the Making of Shenzhen", Chapter 7, discusses how urban villages provided a workforce and residential area to the people building Shenzhen. Bach states that, in the words of June Wang "urban villages or villages-in-the-city are the most intriguing striates". [1] "Sex Work, Migration, and Mental Health in Shenzhen" by Willa Dong and Yu Chen, Chapter 8, discuss women who work as prostitutes in Shenzhen. [2]
The third section is 2004 to the date of publishing, which discusses how the development patterns of Shenzhen were used as a model for developing cities elsewhere in Mainland China. [1] Chapter 9 "Shenzhen’s Model Bohemia and the Creative China Dream" by Winnie Wong discusses artists in the city who migrated from other Chinese cities. Chapter 10 "Preparedness and the Shenzhen Model of Public Health" by Katherine A. Mason discusses public health models used in the city. [2] Max Hirsch's essay "Simulating Global Mobility at Shenzhen “International” Airport", Chapter 11, discusses Shenzhen International Airport as well as the conflicts between Mainland and Hong Kong jurisdiction in the Shenzhen Bay Bridge of the Hong Kong–Shenzhen Western Corridor, which is used by airport passengers. [1]
A version of the book has a foreword by Ezra Vogel about how he walked on the Lo Wu Bridge while traveling from Hong Kong to Shenzhen. [1]
Hai Ren (任海; Rén Hǎi) of the University of Arizona wrote that the chapters were "well researched and well written". [2]
Shenzhen is a city and special economic zone on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, bordering Hong Kong to the south, Dongguan to the north, and Huizhou to the northeast. With a population of 17.56 million in 2020, Shenzhen is the third most populous city by urban population in China after Shanghai and Beijing. Shenzhen is a global center in technology, research, manufacturing, business and economics, finance, tourism and transportation, and the Port of Shenzhen is the world's fourth busiest container port.
Zhuhai, also known as Chuhai, is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, on the southeastern edge of the Pearl River Delta. Its name literally means "pearl sea", which originates from the city's location at the mouth of the Pearl River meeting the South China Sea. Zhuhai borders Jiangmen to the west, Zhongshan to the north and Macau to the southeast, and shares maritime boundaries with Shenzhen and Hong Kong to the northeast across the estuary.
The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in official documents, the region is one of the most densely populated and urbanized regions in the world, and is considered a megacity by numerous scholars. It is currently the wealthiest region in Southern China and one of the wealthiest regions in China along with the Yangtze River Delta in Eastern China and Jingjinji in Northern China. Most of the region is part of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, which is a special economic zone of China.
Luohu District is a district of Shenzhen, China, located north of the New Territories of Hong Kong, east of Futian District, southeast of Longgang District, southwest of Pingshan District, and west of Yantian District. It is one of the oldest parts of the city, having represented Shenzhen as a fishing village before 1953 and a market town from 1953 to 1979, when Bao'an County was promoted to a prefecture-level city and renamed Shenzhen.
In justifying opening up and the series of economic reforms that ensued in China, Deng Xiaoping referred to Karl Marx and his theories, which predicted that nations need to undergo urbanization and a stage of capitalism for a natural socialist transition. One of the most renowned reforms under Deng was establishing four "special economic zones" along the Southeastern coast of China, with Shenzhen, Shantou, and Zhuhai located in Guangdong province and Xiamen located in Fujian province. The four aforementioned special economic zones were all established from 1980 to 1981. As of 2024, there have been 3 additional special economic zones. In 1988, Hainan became the fifth "SEZ". In 1990, Pudong district in Shanghai became the sixth "SEZ". In 2009, Binhai district in Tianjin became the seventh "SEZ". Special economic zones (SEZs) in mainland China are granted more free market-oriented economic policies and flexible governmental measures by the government of China, compared to the planned economy elsewhere.
Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Shenzhen in South Central China’s Guangdong province. It is on the east bank of the Pearl River near Huangtian and Fuyong villages in Bao'an District, 32 km (20 mi) northwest of the city centre. It is a hub for Shenzhen Airlines and Shenzhen Donghai Airlines and for cargo airline SF Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines. The airport also serves as an Asian-Pacific cargo hub for UPS Airlines. The airport underwent major expansions in the 2010s, with a second runway opening in 2011, and a new terminal in 2013.
The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone is a special economic zone (SEZ) of China. One of four special economic zones (SEZ) established in May 1980, it was the first SEZ created by Deng Xiaoping, and, like the other three zones, was modeled after Ireland's Shannon Free Zone.
Nanshan District is one of the nine districts comprising Shenzhen. It encompasses the southwest area of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, with a population of 1.08 million. In 2022, the district of Nanshan's local GDP output exceeded 800 billion Chinese Yuan or 111 billion U.S. dollars, an economy slightly larger than that of Cuba or Oman. The region has an established tourism industry and is home to several sightseeing locations, as well as multiple seaside parks such as the Shenzhen Bay Park and the Shenzhen Talent Park. Its tallest building is the 393-meter China Resources Headquarters.
David Der-wei Wang is a literary historian, critic, and the Edward C. Henderson Professor of Chinese Literature at Harvard University. He has written extensively on post-late Qing Chinese fiction, comparative literary theory, colonial and modern Taiwanese literature, diasporic literature, Chinese Malay literature, Sinophone literature, and Chinese intellectuals and artists in the 20th century. His notions such as "repressed modernities", "post-loyalism", and "modern lyrical tradition" are instrumental and widely discussed in the field of Chinese literary studies.
Bao'an County, formerly named Xin'an County, was a historical county in South China. It roughly follows the administrative boundaries of modern-day Hong Kong and the city of Shenzhen. For most of its history, the administrative center of the county was in Nantou.
Jonathan Bach is a professor of Global Studies at The New School.
Liang Xiang was a politician of the People's Republic of China. He was originally from the city of Kaiping, in Guangdong province. He graduated from Beijing Normal University, and was a representative in the fifth, sixth, and seventh National People's Congresses.
Wong Tung & Partners is an international architecture, planning and design firm established in Hong Kong in 1963. It has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chongqing.
Hong Kong's rail network mainly comprises public transport trains operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRC). The MTRC operates the metro network of the territory and the commuter rail network connecting the northeastern, northwestern and southwestern New Territories to the urban areas. The operations of the territory's two leading railway companies, MTRC and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), were merged in 2007 on grounds of economies of scale and cost effectiveness. The Hong Kong Government has an explicit stated transport policy of using railways as its transport backbone.
Wong Sau-ching (王守清)is a Hong Kong visual artist from the Art Of Nature International Company Limited.
Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone is a commercial development in Shenzhen, Guangdong that is also known as Qianhai New District. Located in Nanshan District and encircled by the Shuangjie River, Yueliangwan Boulevard, Mawan Boulevard and Qianhai Bay, Qianhai covers an area of approximately 15 square kilometres (5.8 sq mi), comprising almost entirely reclaimed land. The project is expected to be completed by 2020.
Yuan Geng, born Ouyang Rushan, was a Chinese guerrilla fighter, war hero, spy, policy visionary, and serial entrepreneur on behalf of the Chinese state. He was an early proponent of China's reform and opening up, and went on to create Shekou Industrial Zone, China International Marine Containers, CSG Holding, China Merchants Bank, and Ping An Insurance.
The Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, commonly known as the Greater Bay Area (GBA), is a megalopolis, consisting of nine cities and two special administrative regions in South China. It is envisioned as an integrated economic area aimed at taking a leading role globally by 2035.
Shuiwei is an area of Futian District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
The Shenzhen Experiment: The Story of China's Instant City is a 2020 non-fiction book by Juan Du, published by Harvard University Press.
