Shenzhen, formerly known as Bao'an County (寶安縣), was promoted to prefecture level, directly governed by Guangdong province, in November 1979. In May 1980, Shenzhen was formally nominated as a 'special economic zone', the first one of its kind in China. It was given the right of provincial-level economic administration in November 1988.
Located in the centre of the SEZ and adjacent to Hong Kong, Luohu is the financial and trading centre. It covers an area of 78.89 km². Futian, where the Municipal Government is situated, is at the heart of the SEZ and covers an area of 78.04 km². Covering an area of 164.29 km², Nanshan is the centre for high-tech industries and it is situated in the west of the SEZ. Outside the SEZ, Bao'an (712.92 km²) and Longgang (844.07 km²) are located to the north-west and north-east of Shenzhen respectively. Yantian (75.68 km²) is known for Logistics. Yantian Port is the second largest deepwater container terminal in China.
According to the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, in 2002, 7,200 Hong Kong residents commuted daily to Shenzhen for work, and 2,200 students from Shenzhen commuted to school in Hong Kong. Though neighbouring each other, daily commuters still need to pass through customs and an immigration checkpoints as travel between the SEZ and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) is restricted.
China relaxed travel restrictions to allow individuals from southern cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as Beijing and Shanghai, to visit Hong Kong in late July 2003. Previously, mainland travellers could only visit the city as part of tour groups. See Individual Visit Scheme.
Immigration into Shenzhen from the Chinese interior is heavily restricted by the Hukou system. One consequence is that just outside of Shenzhen there are large towns which consist of blind flow migrants from the Chinese interior.
Shenzhen is also a major Manufacturing center in China.
The Shenzhen Stock Exchange was established on December 1, 1990. It is one of the two stock exchanges in mainland China (the other is in Shanghai). Analysts in Hong Kong now say that Shenzhen, which is already taking market share from Hong Kong in handling China's exports, is well on its way to replacing Shanghai as the mainland's largest port.
At present, there are more than 50 scenic spots and 139 star-ranked hotels. Shenzhen won the honour of being entitled an "International Garden City" at the "Green Oscars" in November 2000.
A significant number of visitors, mostly from Hong Kong, go to Shenzhen to taste wild animal and game meat such as Civet cat, a favourite delicacy for people in southern China. However, some experts say that the SARS virus was likely to have originated from a civet cat.
Western tourists to Shenzhen tend to be restricted to day-trippers from Hong Kong, either for the cheap shopping or as a quick look at the "real China". The often-heavy pollution, and lack of areas of exceptional natural beauty or cultural interest, encourage Westerners to generally favour other destinations.
As of 2005, a modern Subway links Lo Wu with most of Shenzhen along its east-west axis.
Nine container berths are operational as of 2004. Rapid growth, lower labour costs and its proximity to factories in Guangdong province have put pressure on Hong Kong's container terminals. Shenzhen's total sea container throughput was equal to Hong Kong's Kwai Chung container terminal in August 2003, when each handled 1.06 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) of goods.
Shenzhen moved more goods than mainland China's busiest port of Shanghai for the second month in September 2003.
Yantian International Container Terminals, Chiwan Container Terminals, Shekou Container Terminals, China Merchants Port and Shenzhen Haixing (Mawan port) are the major port terminals in Shenzhen.
Shenzhen Airport is 35km from central Shenzhen and connects the city with many other parts of China, as well as some international destinations. It is normally cheaper for people based in Hong Kong to fly to Mainland Chinese destinations from Shenzhen than from Hong Kong, and it is usually cheaper for those based in southern Mainland China to fly out of Hong Kong to international destinations. Shenzhen airport is conveniently connected by coach directly to Hong Kong airport for a fee of ¥200 or HK$200. The airport is connected to the city by an airport bus route 330 which terminates at Hualian Dasha in Shennan Zhong Lu. Other city buses also connect with the airport, but some only turn round at the roundabout outside leaving passengers with a long walk.
Shenzhen Railway Station is located at the junction of Jianshe Lu, Heping Lu and Renmin Nan Lu and provides links to different parts of China. There are frequent trains to Guangzhou, plus long-distance trains to Beijing, Jiujiang, Maoming, Shantou and other destinations. The train journey from Hong Kong's Kowloon Tong KCR station to Lo Wu's border crossing takes approximately 40 minutes at a cost of (in September 2003) HK$33, or HK$66 for first class. Trains run every 3-8 minutes from 5:30am to 11:00pm and the border crossing is open daily from 6:30am to midnight.
There is another railway station located in Nanshan District, Shenzhen Xi, which is used for a small number of long distance trains, such as the one to Hefei.
Since February 2003, the road border crossing with Hong Kong at Huanggang has been open 24 hours a day. The journey can be made by private vehicle or by bus. A shuttle bus connects it with the Lok Ma Chau Public Transport Interchange on the other side of the border.
A metro system opened on 28th December 2004. It has two lines, one from Luohu (Lo Wu & Shenzhen railway stations) to Window of the World, and the other from Huanggang to a point further north. For details, please refer to the article about Shenzhen Metro.
Taxis are metered and come in three colours. Red taxis may travel anywhere, green ones are restricted to outside the SEZ, and yellow ones are restricted to inside the SEZ.
Shenzhen is also connected by fast ferries linking Shekou, on the west edge of the SEZ with Zhuhai, Macau, Hong Kong International Airport, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.
Shenzhen has been a sister city to Brisbane, Australia since June 1992. Shenzhen further has a regional partnership with Nuremberg, Germany.
Prefecture-level divisions of Guangdong
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| List of Guangdong County-level divisions |
| Districts of Shenzhen | - | Inside Special Economic Zone: Luohu | Futian | Nanshan | Yantian | |
| Outside Special Economic Zone: Bao'an | Longgang | |||