For now, what makes Shenzhen unique as a manufacturing hub is its abil — Shenzhen

"Shenzhen is changing in other ways, too. Instead of just hardware (like hoverboards), it’s making sophisticated products that combine hardware with software (just-in-time bookable electric scooters, app-controlled drones) and, increasingly, artificial intelligence (translation devices, toy robots, semi-autonomous vehicles). Moving beyond its reputation for developing cheap rip-offs of other people’s ideas, it’s become more of a hub that connects innovation, manufacturing, and knowledge all over the world."

"Shenzhen is shouldering the weight of innovation to achieve Chinese tech breakthroughs in strategic industries while propelling the entire country up the value chain to hedge against economic headwinds, punctuated by four “D’s” – debt, deflation, de-risking and demographics."

"Shenzhen is a city built on migrant labour. The government there has always adopted policies that adapt to that fact. Now it is a lot easier for migrants to find a place in school for their children, but it is still discretionary."

"With neither resources nor production factors, Shenzhen made leapfrogging development from a remote country town to a global technological centre and from an agricultural town to a manufacturing powerhouse over a period of 40 years. From the development stage featuring rapid quantitative growth driven by production factors to the throes of transformation when the economy slowed down and the growth engine shifted gears, and then the stage when innovation-driven, high-quality development was pursued, Shenzhen showcased the whole process of how a city joins the global value chain and moves from the bottom to the highest rank, making itself a role-model in promoting competitiveness for global peer cities."

"After being established as China’s first economic zone in 1980, Shenzhen quickly developed from a sleepy small border town into a large modern city, quite impressive in the history of industrialization, modernizing, and urbanization."

"The southern city where China’s economic transformation began more than four decades ago, and which has seen its hi-tech industry become the bellwether for growth, is vowing to double down on efforts to shore up the sector as the nation strives to move up the industrial chain and counteract US-led tech restrictions."