SHENZHEN, CHINA:
From Fishing Village to Megacity in 30 Years
case study | urbanization unit
Studies For Our Global Future
In 1980, fewer than 30,000 people lived in the sleepy fishing village of Shenzhen in Southeastern China. Fifteen
year later its population had soared to 3 million. Today Shenzhen is a global megacity, home to more than 12
million people, China’s second busiest shipping port, and a burgeoning high-tech industry.1 And it is still growing.
By 2030 the Chinese government plans to integrate Shenzhen with eight nearby cities, each over 1 million
inhabitants, into a megalopolis of up to 80 million people.2
An instant city
Unlike other urban agglomerations that grew
up or sprawled out gradually from a historical
urban core, Shenzhen is an “instant city.” In
1980, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping declared
the area China’s first “special economic zone”
as part of his reforms to open up China to the
rest of the world. This special status allowed
for direct foreign investment and private
enterprise to move in. From just across the
border, Hong Kong became a major investor.
Under China’s hukou system, which ties a
person’s entitlement to social services (like
health care and education) to their birthplace,
Chinese people themselves could not freely
move from the countryside to cities like
Shenzhen until 1985, when villagers were Source: World Population Review
granted the ability to register as temporary
urban residents. Even though migrants lacked
full benefits (a process still under reform), young construction and factory workers poured into Shenzhen.
Factories, office buildings, and dormitories seemed to spring up overnight, like mushrooms after a rain.3
As John Zacharias and Yuanzhou Tang write in the journal Progress in Planning, “Shenzhen’s growth surpassed
planned levels several times, rendering the spatial plans obsolete before they were completed. Growth was
particularly spectacular during the 1980s, but continued to outpace virtually every major city in China through
the 1990s as well.”4 Large skyscrapers or factories were constructed directly adjacent to small residential
buildings – imagine a 40-story building going up in your backyard. In many cases, however, the original residences
were just demolished. Peasants were moved to planned “urban villages” interspersed among industrial zones. The
government compensated some of those who lost their homes, but most just lost out.5
Factories for the world
Special economic zones became virtual free market economies within the communist country. Their purpose
was to help China to better understand modern capitalism and help boost the national economy. Shenzhen
© 2021 POPULATION CONNECTION
incubated China’s first land market. Businesses paid far lower taxes than in other parts of the country. The
economy was geared to churn out exports in previously unforeseen quantities.6
It did not take long before companies around the world were turning to Shenzhen to fill orders for products and
components. In the early years, factories produced basic household goods. Then came the electronics wave.
Endless rows of migrant workers in newly-built complexes assembled the hardware that went into mobile phones
and computers and other technological devices the world over. Electronics companies came in to harness the
massive industrial capacity, finding that components that took months to be built elsewhere could come together
in Shenzhen in a matter of weeks, and at a large scale. The city’s population routinely swells by some 4 to 5 million
workers each summer to gear up for the Christmas electronics rush – Santa’s Chinese outpost, if you will. China’s
“open door” policy was working, and for much of the world economy, that portal was Shenzhen.7
More recently, Shenzhen has been transitioning to software, finance, and genetics. A number of the international
companies that made Shenzhen their Chinese headquarters are opening factories further inland where they can
access cheaper property and cheaper labor. Shenzhen’s 2011 five-year plan highlighted six priority industries:
biotechnology, internet, renewable energy, advanced materials, cultural creativity, and information technology.8
Christopher Balding, associate professor of business and economics at the HSBC Business School in Shenzhen,
chronicles some of Shenzhen’s current offerings: “Today some 8,000 tech companies have set up shop in the city,
including Internet giant Tencent and telecommunications company Huawei Technologies, as well as the world’s
largest drone maker…Beijing Genomics International, a public-private partnership, provides rapid DNA data
downloadable anywhere in the world via Amazon cloud services. Lighting company LEDSFilm is manufacturing
the smallest and brightest studio and entertainment lights in the world.”9
© 2021 POPULATION CONNECTION urbanization unit | SHENZHEN, CHINA: From Fishing Village to Megacity in 30 Years 2
Dangers of rapid growth
Glittering skyscrapers flaunt Shenzhen’s
amassing wealth. Shenzhen’s GDP now
rivals that of Hong Kong. In the Nanshan
district, the average GDP per person in
2019 hovered around $55,000, the highest
of any district in China and more than
that in Japan and Germany.10 Venture
capital and private equity firms abound.
A $3 trillion stock exchange focuses on
technology start-ups.11
Yet rapid growth can come with a cost.
Factories have left the region’s rivers
polluted. Living and working conditions
for migrant workers are often lacking.
Shenzhen made international headlines in
2010 for the rash of suicides by workers
NI QIN/iStockphoto
at a Foxconn assembly plant that supplies
The city of Shenzhen, China.
Apple.12
In December 2015, a massive hill of accumulated construction debris became destabilized, turning into a
landslide that buried or collapsed 33 buildings. Up to 32 feet of red mud covered apartments, worker dormitories,
and factory buildings across an area larger than 70 football fields. Dozens of people were buried. Investigations
found that developers were not heeding disposal regulations in their rush to get buildings up quickly.13
And then there are the more commonplace problems that plague fast-growing cities the world over. As the city
grew up, cars took the place of the quintessential Chinese bicycles, and with them came traffic congestion and
air pollution. In 2016, residents were facing average commuting times of up to an hour and a half. To try to curb
traffic backups, the city limits new car registrations. New roads, tunnels, and bridges are continuously being
erected. The metro system is evolving quickly. The first metro station opened in 2004. A decade later the system
had 131 stations.14
Megacity merging
In 2008, the Chinese government released its plan to merge Shenzhen and eight other nearby cities into
an interconnected urban agglomeration sharing transportation, water, energy, and telecommunications
infrastructure. According to the World Bank, this Pearl River Delta megalopolis – covering Shenzhen plus
Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, and Zhuha – is already the world’s
largest continuously urbanized area. In 2010 its population of 42 million was larger than many countries,
including Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Malaysia. By 2030, the total urban population could double to 80
million with a GDP of $2 trillion (equal to the GDP of the entire country in 2004).15
© 2021 POPULATION CONNECTION urbanization unit | SHENZHEN, CHINA: From Fishing Village to Megacity in 30 Years 3
Transportation improvements, including a 22-mile-long bridge, will closely link Hong Kong to Shenzhen and the
other mainland cities; how Hong Kong’s political and economic linkages will evolve is less clear. Even murkier
is what an urban area of this size will mean for the local people and the environment. Food and water supply
logistics will need to be managed carefully as the rural areas in between the cities are urbanized. The scope of
this development goes far beyond anything in human history.16
The future of China’s urbanization
In 2015, for the first time since the special economic zones were created, China’s migrant population shrunk.
More people elected to stay in their rural villages than in the past, causing some to ask if China could be nearing
“peak urbanization.” China’s central planners say no.17 They envision an even more urban future, with close to
1 billion people, or more than 70 percent of the country’s projected population, living in cities by 2030.18
By and large, China has avoided some of the worst problems associated with urban growth, including large slums
or squatter settlements. The urbanization of the last several decades played a large role in lifting 500 million
© 2021 POPULATION CONNECTION urbanization unit | SHENZHEN, CHINA: From Fishing Village to Megacity in 30 Years 4
URBAN EXPANSION Chinese out of poverty. But, as a joint
report from the Chinese government and
The proportion of China’s population living in cities has risen steadily since the 1970s.
Workers moving from rural areas to cities are prevented from integrating, however, by a
the World Bank notes, “strains are starting
household registration system that restricts them from officially changin their permanent to show.” The government recognizes that
residence. Urban populations concentrate in the eastern part of the mainland. going forward, urban planning will need
to be better managed to use land more
efficiently. It also recognizes that property
rights and land sales, as have been piloted
in Shenzhen, will play an important role in
the future.19
The Shenzhen experiment showed
China how incentivized capitalism could
transform an area from rice paddy to
mega-metropolis in record time. As the
experiment proceeds, care is needed to
ensure that urbanization’s challenges do
not outweigh its benefits.
Source: Nature News Author: Janet Larsen (2017); Updated 2020.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2019). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision. New York: United Nations. Retrieved
1,18
from https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-Report.pdf
2
Sala, I.M. (2016). Story of cities #39: Shenzhen – from rural village to the world’s largest megalopolis. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.
theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/10/story-of-cities-39-shenzhen-from-rural-village-to-the-worlds-largest-megalopolis; Weller, C. (2015). The world’s
largest megacity already has more people than Canada, Argentina, or Australia. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-
mega-city-has-more-people-than-canada-argentina-or-australia-2015-7
3
Wang, Y. P., Wang, Y. and Wu, J. (2009), Urbanization and Informal Development in China: Urban Villages in Shenzhen. International Journal of Urban and
Regional Research, 33: 957–973. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2427.2009.00891.x; Sala, I.M. (2016).
4
Zacharias, J. and Yuanzhou, T. (2010). Restructuring and repositioning Shenzhen, China’s new megacity. Progress in Planning. 73(4), 209-249. Retrieved
from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progress.2010.01.002
5
Estimates for the number of peasants across the country who lost land to rapid urban development between 2004 and 2012 exceed 160 million, Sala, I.M.
(2016); Ng, M. K. (2003). Shenzhen. Cities, 20(6), 429-441.
6
Ng, M. K. (2003). Shenzhen. Cities, 20(6), 429-441; Yeung, H. (2015). A tale of two cities – the development and reform experiences of Shenzhen and
Shanghai, Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, 13:4, 369-396, DOI: 10.1080/14765284.2015.1090268; Fishman, Ted C. (2005). China, Inc. (New
York: Scribner), chapter 4.
7
Bloomberg News. (2015). The Little Village That Could: Shenzhen Reinvents Itself, Set to Surpass H.K. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/
articles/2015-05-11/the-little-village-that-could-shenzhen-set-to-surpass-hong-kong; Whitwell, T. (2014). Inside Shenzhen: China’s Silicon Valley. The
Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/jun/13/inside-shenzen-china-silicon-valley-tech-nirvana-pearl-river
8
“Shenzhen.” Nature, vol. 516, no. 7531, 2014, p. S75. Science in Context, Retrieved from link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A394113197/SCIC?u=duke_
perkins&xid=ccc93c44
9
ACCESSWIRE. (2019, October 5). One of China’s Top 100 Districts Joins Hands with Famous Artist Li Guyi,GBA Flash Mob Celebrates 70th Anniversary of People’s
Republic of China [Press release]. Retrieved May 27, 2020 from https://apnews.com/200253871cd14f73323b6bb10bc79e45
10
Balding, C. (2016). One Chinese City Has Figured Out the Future. Bloomberg View. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-12/
china-s-shenzhen-has-figured-out-the-future
11
Balding, C. (2016); Bloomberg News (2015).
12
Johnson, J. (2011). 1 Million Workers. 90 Million iPhones. 17 Suicides. Who’s to Blame? Wired. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2011/02/
© 2021 POPULATION CONNECTION urbanization unit | SHENZHEN, CHINA: From Fishing Village to Megacity in 30 Years 5
13
Buckley, C. (2015). Chinese Official Vows Punishment Over Shenzhen Landslide. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.
com/2015/12/26/world/asia/china-landslide-shenzhen.html; Buckley, C. (2015). Before Shenzhen Landslide, Many Saw Warning Signs as Debris Swelled.
The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/world/asia/landslide-shenzhen-china.html; Buckley, C. (2015). Shenzhen,
Embodying China’s Growth, Falls Risk to It. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/22/world/asia/china-landslide-
shenzhen.html
14
Earley, K. (2016). A tale of two megacities – how Shenzhen and Lagos are coping with urbanization. The Guardian Sustainable Business. Retrieved from
http://katharine-earley.co.uk/portfolio/a-tale-of-two-megacities-how-shenzhen-and-lagos-are-coping-with-urbanisation/; Whitwell, T. (2014).
15
World Bank Group. 2015. East Asia’s Changing Urban Landscape: Measuring a Decade of Spatial Growth. Urban Development. Washington, DC: World
Bank. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10986/21159; International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook database, at https://www.imf.org/
external/pubs/ft/weo/2016/02/weodata/weorept.aspx; Weller, C. (2015).
16
World Bank Group. 2015; Weller, C. (2015); Time Out Hong Kong. (2016). Pearl River Delta Megacity. Retrieved from https://www.timeout.com/hong-
kong/en-hongkong/the-pearl-river-delta-megacity-051716
Minter, A. (2016). Has China Reached Peak Urbanization? Bloomberg View. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-07-19/
17
has-china-reached-peak-urbanization; World Bank; Development Research Center of the State Council, the People’s Republic of China. 2014. Urban
China: Toward Efficient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Urbanization. Washington, DC: World Bank, Retrieved from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/
handle/10986/18865
19
World Bank; Development Research Center of the State Council, the People’s Republic of China. 2014.
© 2021 POPULATION CONNECTION urbanization unit | SHENZHEN, CHINA: From Fishing Village to Megacity in 30 Years 6
