How do you measure a city’s 45 years? Is it the skyscrapers rising from the ground, the rapidly growing GDP data, or the “Made in Shenzhen” products found all over the world? Perhaps the answer lies in the memories of everyone who has experienced it firsthand.
A city’s brilliance is ultimately the brilliance of its people. This afternoon, the “Continuing the Spirit of the Special Zone, Boldly Reforming and Opening Up” photo exhibition commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone will open in the West Exhibition Hall of Block B at the Shenzhen Civic Center. Through three major sections and 156 images, it offers a visual perspective to understand Shenzhen. These 45 years of vibrant youth are not only a tribute to the past but also a starting point for courageously moving toward the next glory.
Frames of Time Reflect the Original Aspiration: Change and Dreams Through the Lens
Time is a great writer; the lens is a faithful recorder.
“Back then, I came to Shenzhen by train and lived near Zhuzilin. These precious images not only tell the story of Shenzhen but also show young people that Shenzhen didn’t become what it is today overnight,” said a citizen who came to Shenzhen in 1983 to participate in its construction, adding emotionally, “As time passes, we must tell the story of Shenzhen to young people in a more vivid and lively way.”
“I was born in 1980. You could say our generation has both benefited from the construction of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and has been its steadfast successors and builders,” said a woman who came to Shenzhen after graduation, always feeling that becoming a Shenzhener was the best decision of her life.
If the 45-year journey is a grand epic, each photo in this exhibition is a condensed line of poetry. They tell not only the tremendous changes that have taken place on this land but also how generations of people who came here have encoded their youth into the city’s DNA with sweat and wisdom, collectively writing the answer from a “border town” to an “international metropolis.”
A City and Generations: A Brief History of Youth Written Through Boldness, Innovation, and Hard Work
The “special” in the Special Zone lies in its never-ending self-renewal; the “depth” of Shenzhen lies in the scale of dreams that reach people’s hearts. The sound of bicycle bells breaking the morning silence in front of the slogan “Time is money, efficiency is life”—this is Shenzhen. Taking the lead in entering the stage of citywide autonomous vehicle coverage, quantum laboratories gleaming with futuristic light, the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone nurturing new momentum for the Greater Bay Area’s development—this is also Shenzhen. The spirit of “daring to be the first in the world” has given birth to countless “firsts” here and turned countless “impossibilities” into “possibilities.”
At the end of 1987, Shenzhen held its first public auction of state-owned land use rights. The photographer who captured this precious historical moment recalled, “This is the most satisfying news photo I took in my career. The auctioneer started bidding at 2 million yuan on stage, and it finally sold for 5.25 million yuan. Young people might find it hard to guess that such a precious ‘first auction’ of Chinese land was actually taken with a ‘point-and-shoot’ camera.”
Since 2018, a citizen has been working in the Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone. The comparison of the past and present in the Shenshan Ebu area fills him with emotion, and he firmly believes: “Shenshan’s development will be faster and better in the future.”
45 Years of Boldness and Experimentation: The Miracle Continues
The earth-shaking shouts of moving mountains and reclaiming land, the bell marking the opening of the stock exchange, the sea breeze blowing by the Qianhai Stone… Time has never forgotten how this youthful land grew full of miracles.
Since 2023, the “Cultural Power Construction High-Level Forum” has been held in Shenzhen; the globally acclaimed Shenzhen-original dance drama “Yong Chun” and the phenomenal AI dance drama “Shen AI You” showcase new cultural productive forces; as of 2024, Shenzhen’s PCT international patent applications have ranked first among Chinese cities for 21 consecutive years; in 2024, Shenzhen opened its first autonomous bus line, and in the same year, Shenzhen ranked first in the number of new unicorn companies; in land-scarce Shenzhen, 57,354
