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Shenzhen

City in ChinaShenzhen lies on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary, on the central coast of Guangdong province in southern China, about 100 km southeast of Guangzhou, the provincial capital.

What it's known for

In May 1980 Shenzhen became China's first Special Economic Zone, a policy pushed by Deng Xiaoping, and it grew from a small town into a large modern city. It is a major technology centre, sometimes called China's Silicon Valley, and the home of companies such as Huawei, Tencent and DJI.

Fun facts

  1. Shenzhen means 'deep ditch' in the local dialect, where the word 'zhen' is used for irrigation ditches.
  2. A large share of the people in Shenzhen moved there from other parts of China, so its population is younger than in most Chinese cities.
  3. Shenzhen has its own stock exchange, founded on 1 December 1990.

Finding it on the globe

Find Hong Kong on China's south coast and move just north across the border: Shenzhen starts right there, on the east side of the Pearl River estuary.

Easy to mix up

Shenzhen sits right against Hong Kong, so the two are easy to confuse: Shenzhen is the city north of the border. China's capital is Beijing, far to the north.

Sources: Wikipedia: Shenzhen, Wikipedia: Shenzhen Stock Exchange