When Alan Macfarlane first set foot in Shenzhen a decade ago, his mind’s eye, shaped by a career studying the gritty realities of 19th-century British industrial history, prepared him for the worst.

On July 28, the Central Government announced the introduction of the childcare subsidy program, which came into effect Jan. 1, 2025. It offers a monthly payment of 300 yuan (US$42.11) per child for those under 3 years old. The total of the subsidy for children born in January 2025 and after is 10,800 yuan over a three-year period.

To mark the 45th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, a new video series is turning to an unexpected group of storytellers — the city’s international residents — who are revealing the history behind diplomatic gifts sent to Shenzhen from their home countries.

In the Chinese TV series “A Little Reunion,” released in the summer of 2019, middle-aged father Fang Yuan pretended to go to work every day after being laid off. Lately, a similar scenario has been playing out in real life with the emergence of so-called “pretend-to-work” companies in Shenzhen and other Chinese cities — people are actually paying to simulate a day at the office.