Shenzhen

Shenzhen, China

It was Deng Xiaoping who made it all happen. The former Chinese leader, the architect of China's drastic economic transformations, ticked a small fishing village called Shenzhen on the Map of China in the 1980's, and in just 20 years, the nondescript, sleepy place in southern China's Guangdong province became a bustling metropolis and one of China's most economically robust regions. Shenzhen's meteoritic rise to fortune is just nothing short of astonishing, and Shenzhen is a microcosm of China's iron-clad will to turn the tables and come to the fore on the world economic stage.

Shenzhen has been drawing a large contingent of immigrants from other parts of China who have brought with them with great ideas. Now, many modern architectural masterpieces are ready to excite visitors in this “Capital of Design”.

See and Do

• Lotus Hill

  Natural cliffs and man-dug caves make the ancient quarry a worthy tourist attraction. Sights include Lotus Stone, Swallow Rock and Eight Mortals Rock.

• Dameisha

  The seafront resort lying to the east of Dapeng Bay and leaning against a green hill is one of Shenzhen's eight best sights. It attracts weekend day-trippers with its extensive white sandy beach and myriad activities, like waterskiing ropeway, motor boating and parasailing. Best visited from May to October.

• Happy Valley

  The State 5A-class, 350,000-square-meter theme park offers over 100 activities to work visitors up to a fever pitch of excitement. It divides into 9 theme zones, including Spanish Square, Cartoon City, Risk Mountain, Happy Island, Gold Ore Town, Shangri-la Forest, Hurricane Bay, Coast of Sunshine, and Maya Water Park.

• Huaqiaocheng

  The 9-square-kilometer pilot zone for geo-tourism is great for holidaymakers, sightseers and the outdoorsy. It contains two theme parks, three tourist-centric towns, four hotels and two 36-hole golf courses. The whole community is designed to bring city slickers back to nature.

• Window of the World

  The 480,000-square-meter park packs in the amazing, ingeniously conceived bite-sized versions of 130 most celebrated scenic spots and architectural wonders around the world. Tour the world in just one day.

  
  
  
• Dafen Oil Paintings Village

  Over 100 companies, over 700 galleries and over 2000 oils artists produce large quantities of artworks sold around the world.