EYESHENZHEN  /   Opinion

All eyes on Shenzhen

Writer: Lin Min  | Editor: Jane Chen  | From:  | Updated: 2019-08-26

Exactly 39 years ago today, a 327.5-square-km special economic zone (SEZ) was established in Shenzhen. The SEZ’s unprecedented reform and opening up in the following four decades turned a backwater border town into a world miracle in industrialization and urbanization, and played an indispensable role in the country’s earthshaking transformation.

Trailblazer Shenzhen has now been tasked with a new mission, at a critical juncture when the world is facing what President Xi Jinping has said are “tumultuous changes never seen in a century.” A document issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council on Aug. 18 declares that Shenzhen will be built into “a pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics,” which means the city is tasked with carrying out bolder reforms as a model for other Chinese cities.

The timelines for Shenzhen’s major goals coincide with those set out in a national strategy. The Report to the 19th CPC National Congress sets the goal of China basically realizing modernization by 2035, and becoming a “great modern socialist country” by the middle of the 21st century.

The latest guideline for Shenzhen envisages the city ranking among the top cities in the world in economic strength and quality of development by 2025. By 2035, it will become a hub of innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity with international influence. By the mid-21st century, the city will become one of the top cosmopolises in the world and a global pacesetter in terms of competitiveness and innovation.

These timelines suggest that the country’s leadership has placed high hopes on Shenzhen to lead the country’s rejuvenation by the mid-21st century and indicate that Shenzhen’s new mission should be seen as an important step in implementing the national strategy in the next three decades.

While Shenzhen SEZ’s task was more focused on helping the country with economic reforms and opening up in the past four decades, the city’s new mission will be almost all-inclusive, targeting wide-ranging reforms including in the legal, financial, technological, ecological, education, medical and social sectors.

The guideline also lays out ambitious goals that include catapulting the city into the world’s top echelon in innovation, public services and “ecological civilization.”

The high standards set for Shenzhen present gigantic challenges to the city. Furthermore, the past four decades of reform and opening up featured a top-down approach, with Shenzhen enjoying preferential policies to attract overseas investment and develop foreign trade, while the new mission will be a bottom-up initiative, with the city being asked to craft innovative measures to achieve the goals spelled out in the guideline.

However, given the broader Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development plan, Shenzhen is in a position to tap into the various resources and advantages in the Greater Bay Area. Even before the guideline was released to the public, Guangdong’s top leaders convened a meeting on how to support Shenzhen in the new reform campaign. Guangzhou, the provincial capital, and other cities in the province were asked to support and coordinate with Shenzhen in its efforts to achieve those lofty goals.

Since the guideline was announced, Shenzhen has become a buzzword among domestic media reports and social media posts. Many people were pondering what the new move would mean for the city and the country, and people in Shenzhen were trying to figure out what it will mean for their future.

Shenzhen’s new status is undoubtedly good news for the city’s technology sector. The guideline maps out approaches for Shenzhen to developing high-tech industries on the back of the city’s fast-growing tech firms and full-fledged supply chains. It says the country supports Shenzhen in developing 5G technologies, AI, fintech, life sciences and biomedicine, network science and cyberspaces, and other emerging industries. Technological development has been made a top priority for the country as it seeks high-quality growth. The U.S. attempt to constrain China’s technological power is emboldening the country to become self-reliant in high-tech products and rev up indigenous innovations. Not surprisingly, Shenzhen, home to a cluster of high-tech movers and shakers such as Huawei, Tencent and DJI, was chosen to lead the country’s quest for innovation-led growth.

Shenzhen’s new status is good news for global talent who want to ride on China’s rise. To shore up the city’s status as the country’s Silicon Valley, attracting talent not only from China but also from around the world has become more urgent than before. More preferential treatment for talented people is in the pipeline. Shenzhen will also have to take on the greater challenge of making the city more livable and attractive in the eyes of not just Chinese, but also cosmopolitans.

Shenzhen’s new status is good news for its residents. The guideline requires the city to set a new benchmark in achieving a high degree of people’s wellbeing. The shortages of schools, medical institutions and elderly care facilities have been troubling residents as the city struggles to deliver public services to a rapidly growing population. Shenzhen’s more than 13 million residents can expect a boom in the construction of schools, hospitals, elderly homes and affordable apartments in the years and decades ahead.

Shenzhen’s new status is good news for the environment. Already a city known for its relatively good air quality, tree-lined boulevards and lush environment, Shenzhen is designated in the guideline to become a front-runner in building a beautiful Greater Bay Area. It asks the city to adopt a zero-tolerance stance toward environmental pollution and lay out effective measures to ensure sustainable development.

Ultimately, Shenzhen’s new mission should be good news for the whole country. Thirty-nine years ago, Shenzhen was the “chosen one” to lead the reform drive. Now, hopes are running high that Shenzhen will once again shape the country’s future growth with bold, innovative experiments. To make it happen will require unprecedented efforts and creativity from all sectors of society.

(The author is head of the Shenzhen Daily News Desk.)