Forty years ago, a great Chinese man, in whose symbolic shadow we live today, demarcated a special economic zone along the coast of the South China Sea. This momentous decree came as a beacon of hope to hundreds of thousands of people who had struggled to flee to bordering Hong Kong in pursuit of a better life. It also came as a historic step for China to end its decades-long isolation from the outside world and as a pilot program to test-drive the starting automobile of China's reform and opening up.
Forty years later, this beacon light of hope has turned into a limelight of reality and focus of global attention.
Forty years later, Shenzhen, which traditional literature describes as a border fishing town, has grown into an international metropolis with a population of 13.44 million. According to Shenzhen Government Online, an official English portal of Shenzhen Municipal Government, Shenzhen registered a GDP of 2.69 trillion yuan (US$381.40 billion) in 2019, ranking third among mainland cities. Shenzhen's per capita GDP reached US$29,000 in 2019. Over the decades Shenzhen has developed four pillar industries, namely high technology, finance, logistics, and culture.
Official data shows the added value of Shenzhen's high-tech industries, mainly comprised of electronics and information, biopharmacy, advanced manufacturing, new energy and new materials, exceeded 923 billion yuan in 2019. The added values of Shenzhen's financial industry, the logistics industry and the cultural industries reached 366.76 billion yuan, 273.98 billion yuan and 184.905 billion yuan respectively in 2019. Shenzhen was the first city nationwide to receive the title of "City of Design" from UNESCO. Shenzhen vehicle ownership hit 348.4 million by the end of 2019. In 2019, the number of patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) reached 17,459, ranking first among major domestic cities for 16 consecutive years.
Now 40 years later, Shenzhen is home to dozens of multinational companies including eight on the 2020 Fortune Global 500 list, namely Ping An, Huawei, Amer, Evergrande, China Merchants Bank, Tencent, Vanke and Shenzhen Investment and Holdings.
With its miraculous achievements, Shenzhen stands out among all its domestic peers as a model city, approved as "a pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics" in 2019. On Aug. 18, 2019 the Central Government released a guideline on development of the pilot demonstration area, under which Shenzhen has been entrusted with a clear vision of its future development.
With these achievements, Shenzhen has been chosen by the Central Government as one of the four key players among the nine Pearl River Delta cities plus Hong Kong and Macao in the development of the Greater Bay Area, playing a key role in building an international high-tech innovation center.
Confucius said, "At 40, I am not in bewilderment."
As Shenzhen Special Economic Zone turns 40 this year, it too stands unperplexed and has a clear vision.
Now at 40 Shenzhen has a clear strategic positioning as a high-quality development community, a law-based model city, an example of being a culturally advanced and civil city, a beacon for people's well-being and a vanguard of sustainable development.
Shenzhen has a clear vision that the features of a high-quality development community include a modern economic system, an innovation-driven growth strategy, a modern industrial system and a comprehensive deepened reform and opening-up system; that a law-based model city underscores a government ruled by law incorporated with a world-class business environment fostering transparency, justice and fairness; that a culturally advanced and civilized city promotes inclusiveness, tolerance, diversity, entrepreneurship and a service-oriented public cultural system; that a beacon for people's well-being features a cover-all social security system, a sound educational system, a solid medical system and a reasonable housing system; that a vanguard of sustainable development is characterized with comfortable and green living environments, clear skies, clean water and safe and efficient workplaces.
Shenzhen has a clear vision that by 2025, it will be a top-tier world city in economic strength and development quality, and will be a modern international innovative city that boasts first-class R&D input intensity and industrial innovation capabilities, as well as strong soft power and quality public services and an ecological environment.
Shenzhen has a clear vision that by 2035, it is expected to become a model for high-quality development for the rest of China, a world-leading city in comprehensive economic competitiveness, a globally influential creative capital for innovation and entrepreneurship, and a model city for a great modern socialist country. By the middle of the century, it aims to lead the world and become a benchmark city with outstanding competitiveness, creativity and influence.
This is the blueprint of Shenzhen, which has been carefully crafted by the Central Government and is scrupulously being implemented by the people of Shenzhen.
(The author is the executive deputy editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Daily.)