1/16/2018 Shenzhen is China's most fascinating city | Travel + Leisure

Why the Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen is the city of the

future

Dong Wenjie/Getty Imahes

Overnight, this sprawling urban Goliath north of Hong Kong has

become an incubator for cutting-edge design, a rule-breaking tech hub,
a bastion of next-gen urbanism, and a leading cultural capital. Plus, the
food's great and the weather is lovely. 

SAMANTHA CULP MAY 16, 2017

A generation ago, Shenzhen was just a quiet shing village of some 30,000 across
the border from Hong Kong. Then, in 1979, the Chinese government turned it into
an experiment to grow capitalism in a test tube, designating it as the country's
rst Special Economic Zone. Today, the city's population is more than 11 million,

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driven by an in ux of laborers from the countryside who make everything from

real iPhones to fake Chanel bags. Shenzhen — and the surrounding Pearl River
Delta — has become known as the world's factory oor.

So a rst-time visitor might be surprised to nd not gray factories but sleek

museums, sprawling technology marketplaces, and chic breweries and bars.
Shenzhen is now China's wealthiest city, with real estate prices that last year
surpassed those in Beijing and Shanghai. These developments herald Shenzhen's
next phase as a laboratory for the future of the city, thanks to a strange interplay
between top-down, government-led planning and bottom-up, DIY urban
innovation.

"Shenzhen has changed so much that I don't even know how to describe it," says
Venus Lau, the artistic director of the city's leading contemporary art space,
OCAT (Overseas Chinese Town Contemporary Art Terminal), in Nanshan District.
At 36, she's roughly the same age as modern Shenzhen. Born in Hong Kong, she
recalls disorienting childhood visits to Shenzhen during which she'd see high-
rises looming over traditional villages, mountains being leveled for development.
Her museum is the latest addition to OCT-Loft, a palm-shaded arts-and-lifestyle
district in a former industrial area where bookstores and artisanal coffee have
replaced heavy machinery. OCAT's shows often address Shenzhen's rapid pace of
change. The current one, "Real Mass Entrepreneurship," by the New Zealand artist
Simon Denny, explores the city's status as "the Silicon Valley of hardware" with
installations inspired by the surreal market district of Huaqiangbei.

To see why Shenzhen is called that, wander the endless wholesale kiosks of
Huaqiangbei's malls, where tech entrepreneurs, hackers, and makers gather. You
will nd every electronic component and gadget imaginable, laid out like so many
spices in a bazaar. This is ground zero for the production of shanzhai — "pirated"
goods that are often less knockoffs than remixes, like an Apple Watch that runs
on Android, has a removable battery, and is a quarter of the price. Naturally, the
West frowns on shanzhai, but experts like David Li, a Taiwanese technologist and
cofounder of Shenzhen Open Innovation Lab, argue that these bootlegs drive

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innovation. Hoverboards, he points out, evolved in the wilds of shanzhai

production to become a global hit.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government is using Shenzhen as a showcase for its move
from "Made in China" to "Designed in China" — a program to rebrand the country
as a place that can invent, not just copy and mass-produce. Design Society, a
mixed-use cultural hub set to open in October as part of an 18-acre seaside
development, is a collaboration between the state-owned China Merchants
Shekou Holdings and London's Victoria & Albert Museum. Designed by Pritzker
Prize–winning Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, it will host touring exhibitions
from the V&A's collection and projects from various design disciplines. Across
town, construction is complete on the Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning
Exhibition (MOCAPE), designed by the Austrian rm Coop Himmelblau, which will
house two independent institutions — one devoted to art, the other to urbanism
— within a single uni ed space.

The government also supports the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture,

which will launch its seventh edition this December. As is its custom, the event
will take place in an undervalued urban space — this time, Nantou Old Town, one
of the several hundred chengzhongcun that are among Shenzhen's most
distinctive features. Literally "villages in the city," these dense neighborhoods are
what remains of the original shing and farming communities that used to dot
the countryside. They're characterized by eclectic street-level commerce, narrow
alleyways, and low-rise "handshake buildings" — structures built so close
together, neighbors can shake hands through their windows. At night, hawkers
sell cheap and delicious street food like lamb hot pot and noodles to locals and
of ce workers in the shadows of the glossy skyscrapers next door.

The government views the chengzhongcun as a blight, but they've been

championed by urbanists, who see them as fostering city-size versions of shanzhai
— ad hoc methods of creative problem-solving and mixed-use ef ciency. One
advocate is the Shenzhen-based anthropologist Mary Ann O'Donnell, who since
2013 has codirected Handshake 302, an exhibition space and artist residency in a
130-square-foot walk-up in Baishizhou, a chengzhongcun that has long been
threatened with demolition. Now, however, Baishizhou is experiencing something
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like gentri cation. It's the site of the American-run Bionic Brew, Shenzhen's rst
craft brewery. Next door is Magma, an Italian wine bar and DJ space. A French-run
gastropub called Mash recently opened in Shuiwei, a chengzhongcun east of
Baishizhou.

These kinds of businesses have proliferated, with government encouragement,

because they cater to the city's growing upper middle class. One reason Shenzhen
has become popular with well-off Chinese is that it is surprisingly pleasant: it has
green space, tropical foliage growing on buildings, and relatively little air
pollution. There are beaches (real and man-made), including the one where
Shenzhen Fashion Week recently took place under palm trees. In the words of
designer Cynthia Rowley, one of the presenters, "It felt very Miami!"

Another draw is Shenzhen's distance from the capital. As the old Chinese saying
goes: "The mountains are high and the emperor is far away." Though the
government engineered Shenzhen, its location in the Pearl River Delta, more than
1,300 miles from Beijing, gives it a more relaxed atmosphere. "Freedom is a really
big word, but there is a sense of Shenzhen being more open in every way," says
Jason Hilgefort, an American architect and educator who leads the local urbanism
academy Future+.

This openness triggers experimentation at every level, from circuit board to city
block. Hilgefort's favorite new bar is Beer Man, a craft-beer joint in a shipping
container in an empty lot in Xiangmihu District. "It's where you used to go to buy
a used car," he says. "Then a few people started a place where you can play
basketball, then the beer place, and now a fried-chicken place." From Beer Man,
you can look at the lights of Chegongmiao, the hub of Futian, Shenzhen's new
city center. You can even climb onto the roof for a better view. "Everyone is
welcome up there," Hilgefort says.

Shenzhen 101

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Go
By Air: There are few direct ights from the U.S. to Shenzhen Bao'an
International Airport, so for most American travelers it is more practical to y in
to Hong Kong.

By Land: Shenzhen is accessible from Hong Kong by bus, taxi, and train.

By Sea: Ferries operate from the Hong Kong airport and Hong Kong–Macau Ferry
Terminal.

Stay
Four Seasons Hotel: Located in Futian, the city's newest business district.
doubles from $246.

Shangri-La Hotel: The city's rst luxury hotel, known for its circular rooftop
bar. doubles from $109.

St. Regis: Occupies the upper oors of Shenzhen's second-tallest building.

doubles from $248.

Eat
Cuiyuan: A Hong Kong–style chachanteng (diner) with staples like barbecued
pork noodles. 86-755-8860-6228; entrées $3–$8.

Mash: Shenzhen's rst gastropub. 86-755-8322-0215; entrées $12–$20.

Tian Gong at the St. Regis: Elegant private Cantonese dining with views of
Hong Kong. 86-755-2223-9366; prix xe from $145.

Do
Bionic Brew: The taproom of this pioneering craft- beer spot in the urban village
of Baishizhou opens daily at 5 p.m.

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Huaqiangbei: Hackers and makers source parts in this mall district to create the
products of the future. Huaqiang Rd., Futian.

OCAT: The city's leading contemporary art museum.

Coming Soon
Design Society: Opening this fall, this space will include a museum, a gallery, a
theater, retail, and more.

Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition: An innovative

"cloud" structure will link two different museums under one eye-catching roof.
Shenzhen Civic Center, Futian.

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