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In this email, you're introduced to Tilly Liu. The whole message is why people even go to Shenzhen. She describes why Shenzhen is one of the fastest growing cities and that it was declared a Special Economic Zone in 1980.
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Shenzhen Days: Why are we even here? From: 刘畅 <tilly88@words.creation> |
| Hi everyone! We’ve had a bunch of new signups this week, so let me re-introduce myself: I’m your host, Tilly Liu, and I run this fun little mailing list for expats in Shenzhen. I’m here to demystify some aspects of life and culture here, along with a side helping of color commentary. Sometimes just the color commentary. Yeah, I get distracted.
Today’s topic is: Why the heck are we in Shenzhen? No *really*, like why are we here at all? I don’t mean in the immediate sense— sure, we all have some job or some businessy thing to do— but let’s talk about the larger factors at play. We’re here because Shenzhen’s been one of the fastest growing cities in the world for the past few decades, ever since it was declared a Special Economic Zone back in 1980. We’re here because it (and really, the entire Pearl River Delta region) is a sprawling megacity wholly dedicated to trade, manufacturing, and services: A giant economic machine. We’re here because what’s possible in Shenzhen really isn’t possible many other places in the world, certainly not at the same scale and cost. So where’s all this capability headed… you know, in the future? Are we going to just make more *stuff*, more products and things until the world is buried in crap? I guess I’m asking: What is all of this incredible growth *for*, anyway? I have some ideas, but that’s a topic for another day… Yrs, | |