Writing Profile - Shenzhen, from backwater border town to world-class megacity (Creative Writing Essay)

Writing Profile - Shenzhen, from backwater border town to world-class megacity
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October 4, 2020
I. Introduction
As the clouds part and the sun dawns, towering futuristic skyscrapers wrapped in sleek glass are bathed in warm light. The city's sounds intensify; the angry honking of car horns, the indiscernible buzz of people on their way to work, the muttered awe under the breaths of tourists navigating through a marvelous concrete jungle. The many buildings that shoot up into the sky from verdant green tree cover at their bases gaze over the people beginning their day, and those whose days are just coming to an end. The cool mountain ridge on which the city's skyline is embossed reveals itself, far in the distance, giants of rock and stone who bore witness to the drastic change the city has undergone for the past five decades. This is the city of Shenzhen, in Guangdong Province of southern China. Some call it the Silicon Valley of Asia, while the author calls it home.
It has not always been like this. A mere fifty years ago, the city was only a town whose only attractions, if they could be called that, were a massive river and a bay from the South China Sea. It was a backwater rural village, focused primarily on agriculture and fishing. As it was during the 1970s, Shenzhen town was not famous for much, except for being the border town before Hong Kong, further down to its south. Back then, it was composed merely of bundled up together ramshackle houses, shacks, and bungalows. It would not change until Deng Xiaoping, China's reformist leader during the years of 1978 to 1989.
In this paper, the author will attempt to paint in broad strokes the historical development of Shenzhen from its status as a modest and quiet fishing town in the 1970s to one of the leading megacities in Asia today. It will mention some Chinese government policies that allowed for the rapid transformation of the city and generally explain how Shenzhen performs contributes today both to the domestic and international arena.
II. Humble beginnings, big leaps
Shenzhen was a small town, to begin with. In the early to middle 1970s, its primary industries were agriculture and fishing. It was not known for much and served primarily as a transitory point for Chinese refugees who wanted to sneak into Hong Kong, which was under British rule during that time.
In the year 1978, however, the end of the Cultural Revolution ushered into authority economic reform visionaries who clung to the mission of transforming poorly-managed and developed sectors and areas of China. One of the primary, and most prevalent reformists, was former Chinese Leader Deng Xiaoping, who championed the idea of a "socialist market economy" (Barboza, 2010).
One of the main features of this economic revival and reform program was the designation of "special economic zones." These zones were to be treated as areas where a large chunk of the government's capital and industry was to be invested in to transform these zones into high-performing highly-urbanized cities. The very first special economic zone was Shenzhen. (Brandt & Rawski, 2008).
Its designation as a special economic zone and the efforts of effective government pl...