History

In the Xia and Shang dynasties, Shenzhen was a base for ancient Baiyue tribes who were seafarers. In1573, a new county named Xinan was established in the territory of today's shenzhen and Hong Kong by enlarging the Dongguan Military Base, with the county seat located in Nantou. The Treaty of Nanjing was signed on July 24,1842, and Hong Kong island was occupied by the British. On January 11, 1860, the Kowloon Peninsula was ceded to the British under the Convention of Peking and on April 21, 1898 Qing Government was forced to 'rent' the ' New Territories ' to Britain for 99 years. In 1913, Xin'an County resumed the name of Ban'an County. In March 1979, Baoan County was renamed with Shenzhen City . In May 1980, Shenzhen was formally nominated as a 'special economic zone,' the first one of its kind in China . It was given the right of provincial-level economic administration in November 1988.

Geo-location and Population

Shenzhen is located in the mid-southern coastline of China Guangdong province. It is close by Tai Ya Bay in the east, near the mouth of Zhujiang river in the west and connecting with Hong Kong on it's south. And its east longitude is between 113' 46” and 114' 37” , its north latitude is between 22' 27” and 22' 52” .

The total area of Shenzhen is 2020 square kilometers. The size of the Special Economic Zone is 327.5 square kilometers. Shenzhen is mainly undulating with an occasional plain tableland, declining from the southeast to the northwest. The western part of Shenzhen comprises coastal plains. Mount Wutong , with an altitude of 943.7m , is the city's highest peak. 

Shenzhen has 6 districts, 29 street offices and 19 towns. Among the districts, Luohu, Futian, Nanshan and Yantian are located within the special economic zone, while the other two Bao'an and Longgang outside. The special economic zone has a strip-like shape, ranging 49 km in length from Dapeng Bay to estuary of River of Pearl and 7 km in width from Shenzhen River to Wutong Mountain .

By the end of 2003, permanent resident population in Shenzhen totaled 5.57 million, including some 2.49 million living within the Special Economic Zone, resulting a population density of 2854 persons per square kilometers in Shenzhen and 6289 persons per square kilometers in the Special Economic Zone.

Climate

Shenzhen has a mild, subtropical maritime climate with plenty of rain and sunshine. The annual average temperature is 23.7 ℃ , with the highest temperature reaching 36.6 ℃ and the lowest 1.4 ℃ . The rainy season lasts from May to September, with an annual average rainfall of 1,608.1 mm .

City Infrastructure

Shenzhen Airport has 148 domestic flight courses and 11 international courses. In 2003, the airport finished a passengers' throughput of 10.84 million person-times.

There are many long distance trains take Shenzhen as their departure station too, and their terminal stations include Beijing, Zhenzhou, Hefei, Jiujiang, Wuhan, Changsha, Yueyang, Zhaoqing, Shaoguan, Maoming, Heyuan, Meizhou, Shantou and Kowloon.

Altogether there are 2800 kilometers of highways in Shenzhen, with a highway density of 0.75 kilometer per square kilometer. There are more than 150 high-speed big-sized omnibuses traveling between Guangzhou and Shenzhen each day, able to finish 300 times of transportation. There were 4885 buses and 10255 taxis in Shenzhen at the end of 2003. In the whole year, the number of passengers carried by all kinds of vehicles was 104.53 million person-times.

In 2003, the total quantity of Shenzhen's power supply was 32.34 billion KWH; the total quantity of water supply was 1.23 billion tons.

Economy

In 2003, Shenzhen got a GDP of RMB 289.54 billion yuan, its GDP per capita was RMB 54500 yuan according to China Statistics Yearbook 2004.

Main Attractions

There are many attractions for visitors to Shenzhen, such as Ancient Dapeng Fortress, China Folk Culture Village , Lotus Hill Park , Shennan Thoroughfare, Wutong Mountain , Dameisha And Xiaomeisha Beaches, Yangtai Mountain , Overseas Chinese Town and Zhongying Street . Famous for 'one street, two systems,' Zhongying Street is listed as one of Shenzhen's top eight scenic spots. The 250-meter-long street also has a museum and historic sites such as an ancient well, a fort, an ancestral temple and the Sea Goddess Shrine.

Zhongying Street ,' in Shatoujiao Township , Yantian District, is part of an alluvial area between Wutong Mountain and the South China Sea . The street is the product of a treaty signed by China and the United Kingdom in 1898. Eight boundary stones divide the street into two parts. One side used to be under British control and the other under Chinese sovereignty. That is why it has been called ' Zhongying Street ,' or ' Chinese-English Street .' It records the differences of the two sides over the past hundred years. Half of the street is still part of Hong Kong .