40th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone

The Special Economic Zone in Shenzhen was established in August 1980. This year, due to the 40th anniversary celebrations, the Chinese are proud to summarize the spectacular development of the city. It is hard to believe that a fishing village has become a world-class metropolis with over 20 million inhabitants.

On November 14, 2020, President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi JingPing, visited Shenzhen, the first area in which the ruling Communist Party allowed freedom of enterprise. In his speech, he mentioned the strengthening of intellectual property rights and the protection of local businesses. President Xi also promised to relax the rules in order to encourage the creation of new industries.

Since 1980, Shenzhen’s GDP has grown at an average rate of 20.7%, reaching 2.69 trillion yuan in 2019. This means that, economically, Shenzhen has outperformed city economies such as Hong Kong and Singapore[1].

Moreover, after 40 years, the city has the highest GDP per capita in the country, with the lowest energy and water consumption per unit. Nearly 2 million private enterprises are registered in Shenzhen, generating 40% of the city’s GDP, 60% of tax revenues, 70% of employment and 90% of patents. 8 of Fortune Global 500 companies are based in Shenzhen[2].

As it turns out, the Economist magazine was right calling it the “Miracle in Shenzhen”, the most successful of more than 4,000 special economic zones around the world.

[1] https://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/504185/A-40Year-Revelation-of-Shenzhen

[2] Ibidem.