Shenzhen Maps

Shenzhen is a sub-provincial city in Guangdong Province, China. It lies on the eastern bank of the Pearl River Delta and borders Hong Kong to the south across the Shenzhen River, Dongguan to the north and Huizhou to the northeast. The city covers about 1,997 square kilometres. According to the 2020 census it had more than 17.5 million residents, which makes it one of the most populous cities in China.

The name means "deep drains." It refers to the drainage ditches that once ran through the rice paddies of the area.

Before the late 1970s, the area was mostly rural and belonged to Bao'an County. Shenzhen became a city in 1979. In 1980 it was made China's first Special Economic Zone as part of the economic reforms led by Deng Xiaoping. The new zone attracted foreign investment and large numbers of migrants from other parts of the country, and the city grew very quickly over the next decades. Deng's southern tour in 1992, which included a visit to Shenzhen, renewed support for market reforms. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange opened in 1990 and is one of mainland China's main stock exchanges.

Shenzhen is a major centre for technology, manufacturing and finance. Several large companies have their headquarters there, including Huawei, Tencent, BYD, ZTE, DJI, Ping An Insurance and China Merchants Bank. The city's GDP has been above 3 trillion yuan since 2021. The Port of Shenzhen is one of the busiest container ports in the world. The city is also part of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area.

The city has nine districts and one new district. Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport handles air travel, and the Shenzhen Metro opened in 2004. By 2017, Shenzhen had switched its entire public bus fleet to electric vehicles.

Shenzhen has a humid subtropical climate shaped by monsoons. In 2008, UNESCO named it a City of Design, and in 2011 it hosted the Summer Universiade. Its tallest building is the Ping An Finance Centre, which is 599 metres tall and was finished in 2017.

Main sights in Shenzhen