Chapter China: A visit to the Shenzhen Museum

Today I went with some friends to visit the Shenzhen Museum. It was a fascinating experience. The museum is inside the Shenzhen Civic Centre, which is a stunning piece of architecture. The museum has three floors, each exhibiting a different aspect of Shenzhen's history. The 3rd floor showcases the past 30 years - Shenzhen's establishment as a Special Economic Zone by Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of China's Reform and Opening-up. It is impossible to relay in words just how much this city has grown and developed over the past thirty years. The city seemed to bloom overnight. In 1978 Deng Xiaoping decided that Shenzhen would be the first of China's special economic zones, the window to China, and in 1980 the city was opened. People were sent to the city to help build it, and the mass construction is unfathomable. Friends of mine who have lived here for just five years or more have been witness to the speedy transition of sky rises popping up and landscapes changing. And friends who have been here for over 15 years have witnessed farmland turning into urban landscapes, and reclaimed land expanding the shoreline. I had heard the stories of the changes friends have seen, but going to the museum really clarified this. Seeing the before and after photos was mind-boggling.

Another interesting aspect of the museum was the displays of the first electronic and household items that were manufactured in China for the western world. Seeing the first Epson printer I owned made me feel old, let me tell ya! There were cell phones and compact discs, telephones and computers, kitchen appliances and irons, all of which are so familiar to the western world. I took it all for granted, and now here I am seeing these items in a museum, demonstrating the economic explosion that was China in the 80's.

When you step outside the Civic Centre and look around, you can see that Shenzhen is far from finished! Everywhere you look there are skyscrapers and complexes being built. Still, after 30 years, it is expanding. It really is a fascinating place to be.