Shenzhen has been given many nicknames: city of migrants, city of high tech, city of parks, city of design… With the passage of time, the list of the city's titles is growing even longer. Behind these glittering titles are people, people like you and me, people who find their value in their work, people who have stories to tell. This special Web page, entitled “Shenzhen Faces,” is for them and for you. Here you can read their stories, and you are also invited to tell us yours (contact us by email at eyeshenzhen@163.com). Share your stories with people you may never personally meet, and you might be surprised how even simple stories can help change people’s lives for the better.
Yu Jijing is a staffer of Shenzhen Kechaoda Technology, a mobile phone manufacturer in Longhua District that has been supporting people with disabilities and helping them find jobs. Yu has been taking care of the recruitment, training and management of their employees with disabilities since 2011.
A regular blood donor Zhang Ronghua has recently made it to the list of "Good Samaritan of Guangdong" for the second quarter of this year in recognition of his volunteer efforts. Zhang who is a chef had donated blood 125 times in 21 years.
“My dream is to travel all over China and draw all its landscapes,” said Zhai Yunchuan, a 32-year-old artist who is on the road to chase his dreams.
Liu Chaokui, a driver from Shenzhen Xihu Taxi Service Co. Ltd., was recently selected as one of the 10 most beautiful cab drivers in 2021 by the Ministry of Transportation and All-China Federation of Trade Unions.
Chen Yongfa, who lost one of his arms during an accident at work, came to Shenzhen in 2009 to begin his entrepreneurship journey. With over a decade of operation, Chen established an entrepreneurship program in 2021 providing free training for disabled workers.
Over the past 20 years, Wu Xueling has been helping hearing-impaired children resume normal life through systemic and scientific speech and language therapy, becoming the "supermom" to over 1,400 children with hearing impairment, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported yesterday.
A Shenzhen citizen named Shi Xin is always thought of as an exceptional volunteer when it comes to rescue work as disasters strike. As of this August, Shi had participated in wild rescues for over 250 times and helped 2,000 or so people in danger, according to Shenzhen Evening News.
Wearing a white T-shirt with the Red Cross logo, a pair of blue jeans and sneakers, and carrying a backpack full of documents, Gao Min tramps the streets heading to different places every day for her work — organ donation coordination.
Shi Chunxia, head of the country's first women's motorcycle police team, also fondly called "Iron Xia" by her colleagues, has been devoted to guarantee the smooth traffic flow in the city. In the last six years, Shi has been patrolling more than 80,000 kilometers on the road.
He Zilong, 33, lost his arms when he was 6 in a farm field. That time, he was unable to attend school because he was incapable of writing words. However, after three months of hard work, he learned how to write words using his foot or using a brush with his mouth.
At Lam's Collectible Shop at the foot of Wutong Mountain, there are not only antiques, CDs and vinyl records, but also the "printing culture" created by the shop owner, identified as Lam, who shows a genuine and abiding love for his collection, Shenzhen Evening News reported.
Zhang Heyi, a Grade 4 student at Zhuo Ya Primary School of Shenzhen, is able to identify over 1,000 insect species. He has a Douyin channel called "Insect World of Qi Qi" with 155,000 fans, over 560,000 likes and nearly 90 short videos featuring a wide variety of insects.
Song Zihan recently completed a 5,000-kilometer two-way cycling journey between Shenzhen and Beijing as his unique way to spend the summer vacation. The 15-year-old embarked on his two-wheeled journey alone with a backpack and a camera over two months ago.
In 2019, Zeng Lini first visited OCT East Tianlu Villas in Yantian District. She was deeply enthralled by its lush greenery along both sides of the road and European-style villas. Shortly afterwards, the young 1980s-born designer made a bold decision to start her wedding company in Shenzhen.
After her father and grandfather's generations joined in Shekou's pilot construction and development of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in the late 1970s, Tracy Yeung from Hong Kong now has new emotional connections with the city.
Michael Fang did the warm-up drills under the instructor's guidance in a kids' class with other students. Though being visually impaired, the 8-year-old didn't just go through the motions. Instead, he buckled down to the exercises.
Lai Dong, a Cantonese cuisine chef from East China's Jiangxi Province, decided to open a vocational training school in Longhua District to cultivate more talents after working as a chef for about 30 years, Spot News, a local TV news program, reported.
Jiang Xiyun, 38, never thought that after graduating from Shenzhen Institute of Technology in 2006, he would go from being a technician in the traditional manufacturing industry to an expert in 5G intelligent manufacturing. Jiang has witnessed the evolution of Shenzhen's manufacturing industry.
On Bao'an South Road, Luohu District, there is a camera repair shop which has been operated for nearly 20 years. The shop owner, Liu Zhanxiong, is a camera mania and also one of the few craftsmen in Shenzhen who has the skills to repair traditional film cameras.
How do hearing-impaired people wake up with an alarm clock? How do they use sign language to express love in a relationship? Deng Zhenlian's short videos posted on Douyin, or the Chinese version of TikTok, have garnered hundreds of thousands of likes.
Zheng Rui, despite being visually impaired, regards himself as a builder of "tactile paving" on the internet, helping people in need to reach intelligent devices and access information easier.
Jin Zhihu, who suffered hearing loss due to a high fever caused by mycoplasma pneumonia when he was 10, is now seeking to return the favor to society by developing a smart mask that stands a chance to help China break foreign monopoly in the field.
At the reporters's first sight of Gan Nianrong, she was still concentrating on polishing her paintings. However, if you simply consider her as a painter, then you're wrong. Gan has an extensive volunteer experience and she wholeheartedly puts much passion into cat-related affairs.
Officially established in September 2016 under the approval of Shekou Subdistrict Social Organization Service Center, the Wanxia Handicraft Volunteer Team in Shekou's Haichang Community has 30 members, who are all senior women with an average age of around 67 years old.
Some people may open a bakery to turn their passion into their profession. For Zheng Xiaoyan, founder of Silent Bread Tree, the main reason she chose to do so is a less common one: she wants to provide job opportunities for the silent people, for people who are hearing and speech-impaired.
Wei Xiaohe started writing book reviews on his account from 2013, which is the year the social-networking providing a channel for individuals to express themselves. Now Wei has become a published writer of five books with over 1.5 million followers on Sina Weibo.
During Lai Huiqin's 20 years working in the community, she received over 130 thank-you pennants from residents for having helped to avoid major petitions and criminal cases. In 2020, the Ministry of Justice awarded Lai the title of "National Model People's Mediator."
Audiobook narrator, music arranger, piano tuner, exhibition tour guide, instructor...Though being both visually impaired, Li Chunmeng and Lin Miaoyan have continued to advance their careers in Shenzhen through hard work and a shared passion for spoken language and musical instruments.
Wong Woon-li, a Malaysian expat also known as Joey, became very popular in Shenzhen's social media in March when she served as an international volunteer and used her language skills in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Bahasa, English, German and French to help others take nucleic acid tests.
In Shekou's expat community, Yang Yan is more affectionately called Rita Yang and widely known as Super Rita. She leads a team of 12 international social workers in Shekou and they work together to turn the area into a second home for nearly 8,000 expats from over 100 countries.