Shenzhen

 

This article was written about 5 years ago, and there are few changes.  Recently many Chinese professors and scientists (about 22% growth in 2021) are returning to China due to the prosecution of our government (via China Initiative for example) and more opportunities back home. Many professors and researchers cannot obtain research grants from the US government and the sponsors from the Chinese government. Security clearance is tightened for Chinese scientists / engineers in the US.

 

There are spies regardless of nationality. I bet we have US spies in China. The number of Chinese spies could be less than the average number of spies per capita among foreigners in the US. Most Chinese from China are not spies but they come here for a better life for themselves and their children. Our politicians have ignored the huge contributions from these Chinese.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Initiative

 

 

Let’s start with a video from Professor X. Click here or type the following in your browser:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=SGJ5cZnoodY&t=923s

 

Shenzhen has transformed from a small fishing village to a modern city with 12 million citizens. Shenzhen has become the Silicon Valley of the East, or in the next decade we would say the US’s Silicon Valley is the Shenzhen of the West.

 

Shenzhen could be the first major city to have all buses running in electricity and so are most taxi cabs. If you bought all the stocks in the Shenzhen Exchange, you could be very wealthy and there is no need to read my books on investing.

 

For example, it would take 9 months to assemble a new product but only 3 months in Shenzhen as most of the components are readily available next door or in the next street. Shenzhen’s advantages are no longer tax credit and cheap labor (but highly-trained Chinese technicians, engineers and researchers). Many tech companies from over the world come to Shenzhen to set up shops in order to be successful.

 

There are many high-tech products from Shenzhen and they’re sold all over the world. Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last 10 years or you are blinded by your dumb nationalism, you should know China is catching up with technology, science and infrastructure, and the gaps are narrowing.

 

Under Deng’s vision, Shenzhen has become one of the (if not the) wealthiest cities in China.  Your homework is to study the many articles on Shenzhen starting with Wikipedia or enter the following in your browser.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen

Extra credits. There are several other YouTube videos on this amazing city. Why copying the current technology to make it better or using it for a new product is creative and profitable? Will any other countries copy Shenzhen's model and will they be successful? Do you agree from the video that open source encourages copying technology without compensation? What does our 9-year-old most likely do with no homework? Is it too early for a Chinese 9-year-old to study electronics and programming? Have a good day, class and no video game today.

More recent links:  1 (recommended).

My experience in Shenzhen. I visited this incredible city in 2017 for three days, a stopover on my way to Hong Kong. It was my first time in my life taking so many taxi rides in order to see many attractions on my first day. Actually, the subway was very convenient and was supposed to be free to seniors.

We took the taxi from the bus station from Canton to the hotel. It was a fancy hotel but it only cost us $140 U.S. during the off season. We took another taxi ride to Shenzhen Museum. I enjoyed it a lot, and from my memory it was free. From the museum, we walked to a beautiful park. Due to it getting dark, we skipped walking to the hill top to see Uncle Deng’s statue.

We took another taxi ride to East Gate. The taxi driver took us to the old one, so we missed the new place with all kinds of street food. Of course, another taxi ride took us back to the hotel.

Next day we took the subway to “Splendid of China”. Someone helped us  buy subway tickets. So far we used cash (may not be that easy today as everything is e-pay). The admission was free to seniors over 70 and half price for seniors over 65 even for foreigners with passports. We had some problems with the ticket machine. A lady helped us with her e-pay and we paid her cash.

A lot of school children lined up there already before us. A child offered us some candies and crackers. The shows were spectacular and we could have spent two full days. The food in the park was quite good for the price.

The next morning, we saved money by having dim sum in another restaurant. It was a mistake as it could be one of the best dim sum places in China. Our hotel is just across the street. The traffic leaving China was heavy, but the train going to Hong Kong was fast and comfortable.

My general impression:  Shenzhen is clean and modern. Living standards could be higher than most other cities in China, but there are a lot of freebies for seniors. The streets are clean and safe. I failed to find a beggar, and it was rumored that they could take e-pay. There are many famous corporations in one street in Shenzhen. Our entire government is fighting these companies in this street.