Shenzhen SEZ PRC
May 9th, 2007 by des
Hi,
So life currently finds me in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, just north of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This fantastic (in all senses of that word) place used to be where a large share of China’s electronics and textile production took place, but much of this activity has now vacated Shenzhen Shi (city) for more outlying areas in the SEZ. I’m here with a group of Concordia University students to study what’s happening with the areas left behind by these shifts in industrial geography. We’re staying/eating/studying/living in the Hua Qian Bei neighbourhood, close to the heart of Shenzhen. It’s a great place (pictures will come soon!) with a huge amount of energy and activity, that contrasts fairly significantly with much of the fairly manicured, hyper-planned, and highly impermeable, disconnected, and pod-like city around us. Electronics is still hugely important here- I heard a figure of about 11b USD in electronics being sold/warehoused/distributed in this neighbourhood on a yearly basis - and judging from the surging crowds pushing overloaded dollies with seven, eight, or nine computers, or bicycles balancing just as many boxes of circuit boards, chips, and leds, I’d believe that figure if it was on a weekly basis.
So, let me get back to the study I’m helping to coordinate (we’re looking at activity patterns, people flows, and the patterns of public spaces and building types), figure out a way to upload the many photos I’ve been taking, and go through my notes, and I’ll come back with a more thorough update.