The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone was established in May 1980, and is the first special economic zone in the People's Republic of China.

Four SEZs – Guangdong, Fujian, Shenzhen and Hainan – were established in China in the 1980s, strategically placed away from the capital of Beijing to minimise potential negative impacts and very close to bordering capitalist hubs, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao.

Before Shenzhen became a special economic zone, it existed as a small city containing only 310,000 residents and less than 30,000 workers. By the end of 2000, however, the population had grown to 4.33 million and its labor force to 3.09 million.

Shenzhen is now the world's hub of electronics manufacturing. Including for big name like Apple, Hewlett-Packard and DJI. It is often referred to as “the world's factory”. It has been reported that 90% of the world's electronics come from Shenzhen, including toys, televisions, air conditioning units, mobile phones and drones.

Not content to be the manufacturing base of the world, Shenzhen has its sights set on becoming a world leader in hi-tech innovation, and the rising star of the move from “Made in China” to “Designed in China”.

Less than 30 percent of the population is permanent residents. The other 70 percent are temporary residents, mainly migrant laborers from rural areas who lack official household registration and citizenship.

The majority of migrants in Shenzhen are female. It has been, suggests that the rapid economic development of Shenzhen and the advancement of its position in the global economy are dependent on extracting female workers from the rural areas, and there are concerns that women face inhumane working conditions and receive low wages for extensive hours.

Shenzhen was known for spewing out dark clouds of toxic smoke, but in the last decade it has transformed into China’s most sustainable city, the city has cut pollution by 50 per cent and rolled out an all-electric bus fleet, with the target to replace all fuel-powered taxis by 2020. Today, the city has three times more electric buses than the entire fleet of all buses in New York, and nearly eight times the total of Los Angeles.

In the city, things like livability and lifestyle have undergone enormous changes – with new parks (covering 39,320 hectares) and restaurant areas, better housing and improved air quality. Walking down the streets in Futian or Nanshan, the finance and tech areas, is a cleaner experience than being in the congested streets in Central or Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. The Shenzhen government has been very aggressive in cutting roadside air pollution and planting trees along the streets.