Shekou Area an epitome of Nanshan’s development

The Shekou Cruise Homeport in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district, South China’s Guangdong province, file photo. [Photo/sznews.com.cn]

Shenzhen’s Nanshan district, stemming from the pioneer of China’s reform and opening-up Shekou town, voyages into a new era for high-quality development and is expected to continue to write the chapters of the glories.

The last forty years have witnessed tremendous changes in Shekou.

Opening wider to foreign investors

Shekou area gathers foreign friends from hundreds of countries around the world. Its development started with introduction of foreign capital.

It is home to the country’s first fund and securities enterprise controlled by foreign capital and the first wholly-foreign-owned company.

In the past 40 years, Shekou has shown its vitality for cultivating Global Fortune 500 enterprises including Sanyo Factory, CSG Group, China Merchants Bank, Ping An Group and Huawei.

Carrier of Multiple National strategies

Benefiting from the preferential policies of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Qianhai and Shekou Free Trade Zone (FTZ), the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and a pilot demonstration area, Shekou maintains its driving forces as a leading player in high-quality development.

At the beginning of this year, the “three major demonstration projects” which contain a corridor, a city, and an avenue were proposed, indicating the key developing areas of Nanshan district in 2020.

The city refers to Shekou International Ocean City. Nanshan aims to cultivate a global ocean central town, targeting at marine technology, marine culture, port economy, cruise economy and other industrial directions.

High-convenient traffic system

The Shenzhen Shekou Cruise Homeport is a modern international cruise center that integrates sea, road, air and rail traffic.

The three major ports of Shekou, Chiwan and Mawan connect Nanshan to the world, with more than 150 routes basically covering the Belt and Road partner countries and regions, and the total container throughput accounting for more than half of the Shenzhen’s.

Metro Line 12, Line 5 and Line 2 enable to transport a visitor throughout Shenzhen city, while highways, bridges and intercity railways link the main city cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, leading to any destinations in the area within one-hour reaches.

With the advent of the era of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Shekou is enriching its three-dimensional transportation network as a bridgehead for the local development.

Ranking top in soft power

Shekou holds strong soft power, as it is equipped with a 15-km seaside corridor, a dozen of eco-parks and eighty percent of the city’s international schools.

In addition, the Prince Bay International Hospital, one of Asia’s largest and diversified medical enterprise groups is planned to locate in Shekou area.

The district’s cultural and creative industries also have outstanding performance in recent years. The OCT Group and Huaqiang Culture in the district have been selected as the top 30 Chinese cultural enterprises. Shenzhen Bay Sports Center, Shenzhen Nanshan Cultural & Sport Center, Poly Theater and other venues have become the first choice for famous artists and stars to perform in Shenzhen.

A hub for high-level opening-up

As a pioneer in reform and opening up, Shekou has developed into an international coastal area with an annual output value of more than 60 billion yuan, a tax payment of 2 billion yuan, and a per capita GDP of more than 200,000 yuan.

It introduced R&D centers for Apple Inc in 2016, and Nestlé in 2018. To date, Global Fortune 500 enterprises including Philips, Bosch Automobiles, Content Electronics, and corporate champions such as Hasbro, Aoya Design and Alpine Water Garden, continue to settle in Shekou, bringing exchanges in information, technology, talents, and culture to the district.

Pioneer in reform and innovation

As one of China’s most economically active, open and innovative areas, Shekou boasts strategic significance in the country’s modernization and further opening-up.

As of the 5th anniversary of its founding, a total of 520 institutional innovation achievements have been made, and its tax revenue has increased from 17.4 billion yuan to 52.5 billion yuan.

Nanshan district will continue its ascent in prioritize finance, modern logistics, information services, science and technology services and other strategic emerging service industries, and pick up the baton of the former Shekou town to build an international and modern destination of innovation, livable environment and cultural glamour.