Shenzhen

The city made by Deng Xiaoping

To judge as to how Shenzhen has changed in the past one or two decades, and what it stood for until the policies of reform and openness started in the late 1970s, it is worthwile to take a look on the city's name. "Shenzhen", literally translated, means "Deep Irregation Ditch". Apparently, there was little else to report about the place, which used to be a small, unspectacular farming and fishing village. Shenzhen is one of China's "special economic zones". It served as one of the few places in China where the government gave capitalism an early try. Since then, much of the special legislation that applied here, has become everyday practice everywhere in China. But when comparing normal cities and those that served as social and economic laboratories, you will see the difference.

Shenzhen got an extra boost that helped it to compete with other places open to foreign investment, when Deng Xiaoping made his trip to the South in 1992. It was a trip that ended an economic austerity policy, which had been in place since the late 1980s. It was Deng's last great move to change his country. But above all, it changed the place where he muttered his speech into the microphones. Shenzhen was the stage he chose. In Shenzhen, a free flow of information adds to the progressive atmosphere. Radio and Television from Hong Kong, in Cantonese, English, and more recently in Mandarin, can be received everywhere in Shenzhen. This is the only testing ground, where reception of free sources of information was unstoppable - if the Communists liked it or not. These days, you will find much of the international press in Shenzhen's main library. With RTHK and Pearl TV beaming their broadcast at every mainland Chinese citizen in that part of Guangdong Province, a bit more of information won't make much difference, anyway.

Shenzhen is no place where the rule of law will always apply, and just as in other mainland Chinese places, power is everything. But no matter where in Shenzhen you will listen, and be it only to a local radio station, you will find out very quickly, that Shenzhen and the rest of China are really different worlds. People here are simply better informed.

Shenzhen may be the only place in Guangdong province where you can easily do without speaking Cantonese. People in Shenzhen came from everywhere in China, and by far not all of them speak Cantonese. Among them, and between them and the original residents, Standard Chinese (putonghua) is the only way.
Immigration to Shenzhen is restricted. To get a residence permit, you need a job, and a working permit. For people elsewhere in China, it is immensely helpful to have old classmates who made it into Shenzhen before them. They might be invited by them, stay in their Shenzhen place for some time, and contact potential employers from right within this lucky town.

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