Shenzhen Introduction (一)

【General Introduction】

A coastal city in South China, Shenzhen is located in southern Guangdong and eastern riverbank of the Pearl River. It verges on Daya Bay and Dapeng Bay eastward, estuary of Pearl River and Lingdingyang Sea westward and Dongguan and Huizhou northward, bordering Hong Kong southward via Shenzhen River with a 45-minute ride from its downtown to Hong Kong.

Shenzhen covers a total area of 1,952.84 square kilometers, including 395.81square kilometers designated as Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

【History】

Shenzhen used to be known as Bao'an County, which was officially established in 331, 6th Year of Xianhe Period of Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420). The present name Shenzhen was made public for the first time in the year of 1410, 8th Year of Yongle Period of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), based on historical records. A local township fair was set up at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). As it is crisscrossed with numerous drains whose Chinese pronunuation is "zhen" or "chong" in local dialect, local residents named the place as "Shenzhen"with "Shen" and "Zhen" meaning "deep" and "drain" respectively.

Bao'an County was officially renamed as Shenzhen Municipality in March 1979 authorized by central and provincial governments. In May 1980, the CPC Central Committee and State Council officially designated Shenzhen as a special economic zone, which was officially approved by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in August, 1978.

Shenzhen was further promoted to sub provincial status in March 1981. In October 1988, Shenzhen was approved by the State Council as a separate planning city with provincial-level economic management status. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress authorized the People's Congress of Shenzhen Municipality, the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Shenzhen Municipality and Shenzhen Municipal Government the power to enact local laws and regulations.

Shenzhen has witnessed rapid population growth since the establishment of municipality with migrants flocking in from all over the country, making it the only city in Guangdong with putonghua (Mandarin) as the main-stream spoken language.

To be continued