{"id":1374,"date":"2019-03-27T04:19:06","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T04:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=1374"},"modified":"2019-03-27T04:19:06","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T04:19:06","slug":"explore-chinas-future-in-5-subway-stops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=1374","title":{"rendered":"Explore China’s Future In 5 Subway Stops"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 11 of 19<\/span>
\n See all ›<\/p>\n

Issue 38: 10th Anniversary Issue<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Next:<\/p>\n

Wash, Rinse, Redeem: A Look Inside A Beauty School—In A Men’s Prison<\/p>\n

Shenzhen rose out of farmland and fishing enclaves in 1979, the first of China\u2019s self-designated \u201cspecial economic zones\u201d designed to catapult an isolated nation into the 20th century. A proving ground for China\u2019s grand experiment in market capitalism and its first city to allow foreign investment, Shenzhen became the nucleus of the country\u2019s almighty manufacturing sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n

GOOD sent me to track the city\u2019s remarkable growth back in 2008. Now, with the emergence of a middle class and government efforts to kickstart an innovation\u00a0economy, the city is once again a bellwether for China\u2019s lofty ambitions. But the past and present are colliding, a housing crisis is brewing, developers are pushing subway lines into once-remote villages, and Shenzhen is searching for a new identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you want to understand the biggest challenges\u2014and opportunities\u2014facing the most important country of the next 10 years, Shenzhen is the key. I recently returned to check in on the latest developments and found five key subway stops that best symbolize the past, present, and future of this emblematic megacity.<\/p>\n

The growing middle<\/h3>\n

(Baishilong Station)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In a far northern suburb of Shenzhen, there is a cluster of 12 highrises that serveS as a monument to China\u2019s economic ascent. <\/span>The complex, called Shenzhen King Metropolis, promises convenience, location, and lifestyle to its middle-class occupants. From 20 stories up, residents can watch the elevated metro glide south to the Hong Kong border. It\u2019s a 10-minute walk to Shenzhen\u2019s North Railway Station, where bullet trains shoot off for destinations across China. But Metropolis residents don\u2019t really need to leave this affluent bubble. Inside the verdant campus, kids giddily ride Segways past giant goldfish ponds. Every day, the latest BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz models roll out of the subterranean parking garage. A two-story outdoor shopping plaza rings the complex\u00a0and several of Shenzhen\u2019s leading real estate companies have offices here. Every morning, as residents breach the subway turnstiles demarcating the beige towers from the rest of the neighborhood, a dozen or so real estate agents start their day with a team-affirming group cheer. They deliver the same message through a series of cold calls, assuring prospective buyers that Shenzhen\u2019s real estate market will continue rising forever.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s developers, including the company China Vanke Co., which built Metropolis, certainly think so. Over the last few years, the local government has transferred much of the land in this part of the city to a handful of politically connected developers who are now throwing up Le Corbusier-inspired apartments at a blistering rate. A few minutes away from Metropolis, a mostly finished development built by Shenzhen\u2019s shopping mall king, Huang Chulong, promises prospective residents \u201cthe life of a CEO\u201d from one of its billboards. The ground floor will include a retail area where CEOs-in-residence can get their morning Starbucks. It all seems like proof of China\u2019s three-and-a-half-decade economic miracle and its transition away from manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Or so a passing glance might lead one to believe. The reality is more complicated and a whole lot messier. Four large Apple suppliers are located just down the street, creating a patchwork of industrial factories and gated residential compounds. An army of unseen migrant workers lives in massive dormitories, part of China\u2019s two-tiered society that has left millions without access to healthcare or education. And there\u2019s growing skepticism that the city\u2019s development boom is actually sustainable. A three-bedroom in Metropolis is valued at more than $1 million, yet it rents for only $1,100. Just across the street, in one of Shenzhen\u2019s countless urban villages, the price drops by two-thirds.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the last 20 years, it\u2019s been kind of a no-brainer that house prices will go up,\u201d says Gillem Tulloch, an analyst at Hong Kong-based GMT Research. \u201cThe government has forced interest rates to be artificially low.\u201d That has led to lots of investment, as rich people sink their money into condos and leave them dormant. Now there are signs that the city\u2019s real estate market is unstable. In March, Vanke\u2019s stock price plunged 24 percent. The Chinese government responded with more intervention, suspending trading of the stock. Analysts like Tulloch predict a massive crash is imminent, endangering this latest chapter in China\u2019s charmed story.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n
\n

Success by design<\/h3>\n

(Qiaocheng East Station)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two hours and a subway transfer after leaving the suburban splendor of Metropolis, I stroll along tree-lined paths that follow Venetian-inspired canals before stopping for espresso at an Italian joint called the Portofino. <\/span>This neighborhood is known as Overseas Chinese Town\u00a0and it hugs the sheltered waterfront of Shenzhen Bay. It was developed by an eponymous state-owned company that specializes in theme parks. I squint across the man-made lake for a glimpse of Rio\u2019s iconic Jesus statue. In a single afternoon, it\u2019s possible to enjoy a condensed tour of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. A monorail offers aerial views of the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore, and the Egyptian pyramids. Nearby, a special train takes riders past Angkor Wat and the Sydney Opera House. China is known for its high-quality fakes, and these landmarks don\u2019t disappoint. \u00a0<\/p>\n

A hyper-realistic theme park is an appropriate metaphor for a city that was dreamed up and willed into existence just a few decades ago. In the late 1970s, Communist Party reformer Deng Xiaoping envisioned Shenzhen as a laboratory for his market-based reforms. Though people have lived in Shenzhen since at least 5000 B.C., it was cut off from the rest of the world during Mao\u2019s reign. But two important factors made it the ideal location to become the world\u2019s great manufacturing hub: natural deep-water harbors and access to Hong Kong. In 1979, as Deng began implementing his plan, the area was a patchwork of Maoist-era fishing and farming villages. A master plan for the city in 1982 envisioned a population of about 800,000 by the year 2000. But migrants kept coming\u00a0and by the dawn of the millennium, Shenzhen had seven million residents. Today, the population is estimated to be 20 million.<\/p>\n

Tucked amid the hokey salute to our world\u2019s great monuments, Overseas Chinese Town\u2019s buzzing Loft District is a haunt for the creative class. From my perch in a hostel\u2019s tranquil community garden, I gaze out on three-story concrete buildings. They were once home to light manufacturers and now house a mix of retail and offices, including a tattoo parlor, a makerspace, and the Chinese headquarters of Skullcandy. Young people from across China come for the weekend to hang out\u00a0and it\u2019s one of the few areas considered safe for gay people.<\/p>\n

But the neighborhood is far from a creative paradise. It\u2019s maddeningly difficult to browse the internet. The \u201cGreat Firewall\u201d is particularly strong in an area where young creatives gather\u00a0and a visitor who wants to access Facebook can waste the better part of a day switching VPN servers from Singapore to Korea to Japan to find a path online. \u201cThe authorities are trying to encourage innovation, especially in technology, and at the same time prioritize the political imperative to maintain control,\u201d says Sharon Hom, who heads New York-based NGO Human Rights in China. It\u2019s a contradiction on full display. The next great economic boom likely won\u2019t come from China\u2019s army of laborers, but from the intellectual capacity of its young people. Yet while the government has aspirations to diversify its manufacturing-based economy by tapping into that brain power, it seems committed to controlling the information its citizens receive.<\/p>\n

Uncounted masses<\/h3>\n

(Baishizhou Station)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If Overseas Chinese Town\u2019s verdant, heavily manicured walkways are Shenzhen\u2019s lungs, then Baishizhou, just next door, is the city\u2019s beating heart. <\/span>It’s a haphazard place\u2014so-called handshake buildings that house the city\u2019s migrant population seem stitched together by tangles of electrical connections, and claustrophobic alleys wind between shops before ending abruptly.<\/p>\n

While most of the city was developed under the watchful eye of the state, Baishizhou was set aside for incoming migrants and left to develop organically. \u201cYou have a city with large-scale urban planning subsuming and growing around these villages, like Baishizhou,\u201d explains Brandon Zatt, a journalist who lived in Shenzhen for more than a decade before moving to Hong Kong. \u201cIn many cases, the villages are the only low-income housing available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of the mix of cultures, Baishizhou is also a smorgasbord of delicious culinary options. One evening in March, my Airbnb host Xiwei \u201cNakuyi\u201d Liu bounds up the stairs of the subway station and lands on the hectic main boulevard. She\u2019s wearing a summery dress\u00a0and smiles as she decodes the signs on nearby restaurants. If a fa\u00e7ade features Mao, the food is from Hunan province; if there are chilies on the sign, the owners are likely from Sichuan; green signs with Arabic lettering belong to Muslim hand-pulled noodle makers from either Xinjiang or Lanzhou.<\/p>\n

Nakuyi tries to drag all her guests to Baishizhou. \u201cI feel comfortable here,\u201d she explains. \u201cTasty food. So many secret places.\u201d Because of the culinary diversity and laid-back vibe, Baishizhou has become popular with expats and Chinese 20-somethings who\u2019d rather not overpay in neighboring Overseas Chinese Town. Unlike that planned neighborhood, buildings in this unregulated expanse went up piecemeal, without conforming to a standard set of building regulations. Today, an estimated 1 in 77 of Baishizhou\u2019s 140,000 residents owns a home, according to the city information site Shenzhen Noted. Because many residents are paid under the table and much of that income goes unreported, Baishizhou remains a cash economy and still lacks the essential services of the city\u2019s more official neighborhoods. The area\u2019s social safety net is as deficient as its electrical grid. Migrants often can\u2019t access schools, social insurance, or health care. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, the city has begun demolishing its urban villages, and Baishizhou is now in the governmental crosshairs. A movement has emerged to celebrate these unofficial communities and to recognize the essential, if complicated, role they play in housing Shenzhen\u2019s huge migrant population. Zatt would like to see these spaces preserved, but he knows that progress isn\u2019t subtle in China\u00a0and the state is not likely to be deterred. \u201cThey will get knocked down eventually,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of time.\u201d And more highrises and shopping malls, or perhaps a theme park, will take Baishizhou\u2019s place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Made in China<\/h3>\n

(Yantian Station, coming 2020)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Amid an economic slowdown\u2014China\u2019s gross domestic product grew just 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2016, the lowest rate in five years\u2014China is looking beyond manufacturing. <\/span>But factories are still the lifeblood of the economy\u00a0and Shenzhen is the center of China\u2019s manufacturing. If the Pearl River Delta\u2014which includes Shenzhen, neighboring Hong Kong, and a dense network of cities and prefectures\u2014were a country, it would be the world\u2019s fourth-largest export economy. Far east of the city center, a bustling shipping port in Yantian District connects Shenzhen\u2019s factories to customers and suppliers around the world. To get here, cargo trucks take Shenzhen\u2019s Eastern Coast Expressway, which hugs the cobalt blue coastline of Mirs Bay and cuts through enormous coastal mountains. The metro doesn\u2019t reach this far out, at least not yet\u2014a new line is planned for 2020. At the confluence of a crisscross of massive highways, multicolored containers rise in towering stacks. On the dock, machines pick up several at a time, moving them into position so a row of dinosaur-like cranes on the port\u2019s edge can place them onto Panamax vessels, ships so large that they can barely squeeze through the Panama Canal.<\/p>\n

Yantian is one of 10 shipping terminals that collectively make Shenzhen the world\u2019s third-largest port by volume of cargo. Shenzhen\u2019s terminals handle about four times as much cargo as the ports of New York and New Jersey, and the city is just one piece of the Pearl River Delta\u2019s well-oiled export machine, which delivers clothes, electronics, and hardware around the world. China makes 80 percent of the world\u2019s air conditioners, 90 percent of personal computers, and 63 percent of all shoes\u2014most of it in and around Shenzhen. Dock workers here live in nearby urban villages or ride a 40-minute bus from central Shenzhen.<\/p>\n

Although manufacturing is still going strong in China, a change is underway. Simple knit garments were the first products to be mass produced in Shenzhen\u00a0and they became the base of the region\u2019s economy. But the garment industry has mostly left the area. Today, more of the world\u2019s t-shirts come from Bangladesh, where labor is cheaper, than from the Pearl River Delta. China\u2019s government sees this as a harbinger of bigger shifts to come as developing countries open factories and take China\u2019s market share. Between 2006 and 2015, China\u2019s average yearly wage rose from roughly $3,100 to $9,200\u2014which is good news for workers, but spells trouble for an economy based on cheap labor. In February, authorities in Guangdong province froze all wages for the next two years.<\/p>\n

\n

Innovating the future<\/h3>\n

(Kuichong Town, proposed station)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As I travel away from the Yantian port to the farthest reaches of the city, the multicolored shipping containers dwindle and give way to fishing villages and small beach communities that recall Shenzhen\u2019s roots.<\/span> I pull off the highway and am greeted by local fishermen waiting in parking lots with the day\u2019s catch. A little farther on I reach Kuichong Town, a nucleus of cheap noodle shops, markets, and hair salons. There are pool tables in the streets, which are lined with four-story handshake buildings. People here stare long and hard at me\u2014not many tourists get out this way, which is a shame given the beauty of the local beaches.<\/p>\n

Even this far from the city center, signs of Shenzhen\u2019s growth are easy to spot. On a rainy winter day in January, the only people out are workers in the blue one-piece uniforms of one of the world\u2019s largest electric car battery manufacturers, BYD, a homegrown success story.<\/p>\n

BYD has helped push an electric bike revolution on Shenzhen\u2019s eastern periphery. It\u2019s a 10-minute motorized bike ride from the center of Kuichong Town up a hilly road to a business park called Industrial Design Town, which bills itself as \u201cthe Art District Between the Mountains and the Sea.\u201d The neighborhood is far removed from the center of Shenzhen, which is 35 miles away and takes hours to get to by public transportation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet the city\u2019s outward crush has arrived here, too. The new loft and living space is housed in a defunct garment dyeing plant, which closed more than a decade ago when the contracts moved on. During the day, hipsters float in and out of a sleek coffee shop in one of ID Town\u2019s post-industrial pods. Down the street is an art museum with soaring ceilings, and live-work spaces with polished concrete floors stretch in the other direction. The development was erected to house dozens of creative startups. A few have arrived: industrial and graphic designers, a photo lab, an office of four young landscape architects. If enough entrepreneurs and creative professionals emerge, the development will be a massive success. Like the rest of China, the developers here are holding their breath.
\n <\/span>
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

Art via Bloomberg \/ Contributor; Greg Girard; China Photos \/ Contributor; McPig via flickr; Christopher DeWolf via flickr; Tran Minh Phuong via flickr; Scott Edmunds via flickr; Thierry Dosogne; Rose Symotiuk via flickr.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 11 of 19 See all › Issue 38: 10th Anniversary Issue Next: Wash, Rinse, Redeem: A Look Inside A Beauty School—In A Men’s Prison Shenzhen rose out of farmland and fishing enclaves in 1979, the first of China\u2019s self-designated \u201cspecial economic zones\u201d designed to catapult an isolated nation into the 20th century. A proving…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}