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China Elevator Stories
Shenzhen, The Nastiest Place In China, Or Is It?
Shenzhen gets a bad rap in China.
31/07/2013
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
I have heard many bad things about Shenzhen. I never planned to visit Shenzhen because of what I had heard about it, which was mostly negative. Since I live in Shenzhen now, and my picture of it has changed, it bothers me if people repeat bad stereotypes about Shenzhen without reflection and without having lived here for a certain time. Criticizing this city is okay if you know it, if you don’t, your picture of Shenzhen may be wrong. I urge people to not blindly repeat what others have told them without seeing for themself.
What are some of the stereotypes I’ve heard?
There is a lot of prostitution in Shenzhen
There are many pickpockets
People only care about money
The city has no history, therefore it has no soul
There is a lot of prostitution in Shenzhen
As far as I understand this is correct. There is a lot of prostitution in Shenzhen (or in Dongguan, a city bordering Shenzhen and not Shenzhen itself). But that doesn’t necessarily mean that every Shenzhener likes to seek out prostitutes.
There are many pickpockets
I can only speak from my personal experience which is that I never got anything stolen in Shenzhen. People say Shenzhen’s outlying districts are more dangerous than central districts such as Nanshan. But it seems to be pretty safe in its central districts. Compared to other cities of that size, I don’t have the experience that things get stolen easily. Maybe I am just lucky. But maybe there aren’t as many pickpockets after all. I think the latter is true.
People only care about money
Many people care about money anywhere in the world. I would say everyone does care about money to a certain degree, no matter where a person lives. Only people who enjoy the luxury of living in a country with a great social security scheme (such as Austria), who can count on their government to look after them once they are old or if they are sick can be so free as not to care about money too much. Maybe you don’t care about LV bags and posh cars, but I’m pretty sure that you do care about money. So maybe people here do care about money, but does that mean that they only want to get rich? Not necessarily. Maybe they have a family to take care of. Maybe they need to make sure their parents who don’t get a pension are taken care of. Maybe someone in their family is sick. Maybe their wife just had a baby. Maybe they need to pay tuition fees for their kids. Maybe they just don’t want to have money worries all of the time and want to make a decent living.
The city has no history, therefore it has no soul
Shenzhen is a new, posh mega city. There are almost no historic sites. Those that still exist, are often torn down. Close to where I live, a tiny old temple is situated right next to the street and people go there to burn incense and honor their ancestors. There are also a few old Cantonese-style buildings where I live. But these places aren’t plentiful. Even though it is not easy to find a lot of historic places in Shenzhen, I disagree with the viewpoint that Shenzhen has no soul because of this. Where it lacks history, it makes up with culture. Popular activities include doing Dim Sum or visiting one of the many art events. I can also recommend visiting Shenzhen’s “green lung”, a jungle in a central area of Shenzhen called OCT, Overseas Chinese Town (华侨城), which is beautiful. It has a real jungle feel to it and features a few nice cafès to while away your time (they are located in Shenzhen’s “Creative Culture Park” 创意文化园). Don’t forget to take mosquito repellant with you. The city also features lots of parks.
What are things I appreciate about Shenzhen?
Shenzhen is a very young city. The majority of people living here are around 30 years of age. Shenzhen is not only a young city, it’s also a city that gives young people a chance. If you’re good at something, it doesn’t matter where in China you’ve been born. It doesn’t matter if you have connections to important people or not (called guanxi in Chinese).
You don’t have to be born in Shenzhen to make it in Shenzhen. Since most of the people living in Shenzhen are immigrants from other parts of China, where you’re from is not as important as in other cities in China. People who are not from Beijing or Shanghai allegedly have a much harder time making a living in those respective cities.
There are other reasons why I think Shenzhen isn’t as bad as its reputation. It has the best health insurance scheme you can find in the People’s Republic of China. Cab drivers won’t cheat you for your money. One driver once even wanted to charge us less because it was only a very short distance (we still gave him the full fare). The public transportation system works very well. The air quality is much better than in Beijing and Shanghai.
What was your impression of Shenzhen?