Ever heard of a city that went from fishing village… to China’s Silicon Valley? That city is Shenzhen. Right next to Hong Kong, Shenzhen had only 30 thousand people in 1980. Today? 20 million.
Now agriculture makes up just 0.1 percent of Shenzhen’s GDP — industry and services 99.9 percent. Shenzhen is home to Huawei, BYD, and DJI, and has the second-most skyscrapers in the world — more than New York.
Shenzhen even leads global e-commerce. Half of Amazon sellers are from China, and one-third of them are from Shenzhen.
So… why did Shenzhen grow so fast? Because Deng Xiaoping — Mao Zedong’s successor — chose Shenzhen to test state capitalism.
Despite its size, Shenzhen is clean, quiet, and safe. It has 50 percent green space, all-electric buses and taxis. Its homicide rate is just one-tenth of the U.S.
With an average age of 33, Shenzhen is China’s youngest city. Shenzhen didn’t just build the future — it is the future.