# History of Shenzhen, China, 26 years of huge changes.



## duskdawn (May 13, 2006)

The one-time fishing village of Shenzhen, singled out by late Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, is the first of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) of China. It was originally established in 1979 due to its proximity to Hong Kong, then a prosperous British colony. The SEZ was created to be an experimental ground of capitalism in communist China. The location was chosen to attract industrial investments from Hong Kong since the two places share the same language, dialect and culture. The concept proved to be a great success, propelling the further opening up of China and continuous economic reform. Shenzhen eventually became one of the largest cities in the Pearl River Delta region which is one of the economic powerhouses of China and is the largest maufacturing base in the world. _--quoted from wikipedia.
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25 years ago. A small fishing village.









Some factories and people showed up.









Buildings! Not skysrapers though...









Still not many.









Preparing for the new avenue.









Avenue complete.









Hmmm, much better.









Like a small town.









Cranes and the new city showed up.









Getting crowded.









Skyscrapers!









Population rushed in.









A city of construction.









You can now call it "big".









Getting attractive.









Expanded around the lake.









Skyscrapers getting more.









Try to build new high.









Ambitions in 1996









10 Years ago.









A modern city.









The same avenue today.









New skyscrapers never stop showing up.









Hong Kong's new brother.


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## staff (Oct 23, 2004)

Awesome thread! I've been looking for old Shenzhen photos for quite some time now! 

Thanks a lot of sharing.


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## ZimasterX (Aug 19, 2005)

Very interesting, especially the first couple of photos. I always been curious on how Chinese cities looked like before the 1990s.


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## vipermkk (Feb 12, 2006)

An absolute miracle of China though some pics were misplaced in order


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## Luis_RiodeJaneiro (Jan 21, 2006)

fantastic historic thread ! I love the architecture in Shenzen and it was very nice to see the old village transforming itself in this modern updated megalopolis !


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## BigChina (Apr 5, 2006)

yeah..

Does the road is the same one?


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## stone (Jan 1, 2006)

miracle of capitalism under an authoritarian administration


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## WhiteMagick (May 28, 2006)

Shezhen has truly become a metropolis from a small village in just 25 years. It is amazing.


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## China_winson (Oct 1, 2005)

interesting explaination!!! however I has posted a similar thread before... anyway, Thanks!!!

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=330015


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## staff (Oct 23, 2004)

Krasnaya Zima said:


> I always been curious on how Chinese cities looked like before the 1990s.


Well, Shenzhen isn't really the typical Chinese city, since it has literally expanded from a fishing village to a huge metropolis in some 25 years. Most other major cities in China has been big for a long time, just like European cities.


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## opium (Apr 10, 2006)

Now that's the communism Karl Marx was talking about.


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## xfogus (Mar 26, 2006)

Wow, thats pretty impressive


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## deadmaker7 (Apr 28, 2005)

Holy crap :eek2: that's amazing! Thanks for posting.


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## urban_phx (Apr 13, 2006)

Wow it really took off


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## Monzaemon (Dec 18, 2009)

amazing lol, while some cities like shanghai and beijing are centuries old, shenzhen just in 30 years gets the same population and probably just as rich as those cities too, only thing though, is no history lol


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## Nightsky (Sep 16, 2002)

Interesting, Shenzhen must have been one of the fastest growing cities in modern times!


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## Assurbanipal (Oct 30, 2005)

Just awesome!


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## Scion (Apr 26, 2008)

All thanks to this guy


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## Scion (Apr 26, 2008)




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## Scion (Apr 26, 2008)

edit


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## Scion (Apr 26, 2008)

Shenzhen 1980









(gaoloumi.com)


The same view 2008









(Sina City)


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## Scion (Apr 26, 2008)

Shenzhen 1986









(gaoloumi.com)


The same area 2008









(Sina City)


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