Forget Beijing and Shanghai. China's economic future is emerging in Shenzhen.
Once a collection of fishing enclaves next door to Hong Kong, Shenzhen has become the epicenter of China's manufacturing-driven miracle is staking its future growth on finance, technology and culture.
The metropolis teeming with millions of migrant workers is home to some of China's biggest and hottest companies. Many are led by a new wave of young Chinese entrepreneurs hoping to build global brand recognition.
Divided from the former British colony of Hong Kong by a river, Shenzhen has been the preferred laboratory for experiments by China's communist leaders since reformist Deng Xiaoping designated the tranquil area as the country's first "special economic zone" in 1979.
Now a sprawling megacity of 11 million people, its fortunes were made churning out cheap clothes, electronics and toys for big foreign brands. But low cost manufacturers like Apple supplier Foxconn have been moving inland or out of China as labor costs increased. Now the focus is on higher value-added, homegrown technology.
Innovative new companies are drawn by Shenzhen's well-established manufacturing supply chains and transport links, proximity to Hong Kong's banking and financial expertise, and better traffic, milder weather and less air pollution than Beijing and Shanghai.
"Shenzhen is becoming the new frontier for technology because it has the infrastructure for whoever wants to turn their ideas into products," said Eric Pan, founder of Seeed Technology, a contract manufacturer for "makers" tinkerers, hackers and inventors.
Pan quit a job at Intel in Beijing and moved to Shenzhen seven years ago. He helped foster the city's "maker faire" movement, festivals that celebrate arts, crafts, engineering and open-source technology that have been spreading around the world over the past decade. Shenzhen's event last year drew 190,000 people.
Established tech giants such as telecom gear makers Huawei and ZTE and internet company Tencent call Shenzhen home. So do rising stars like DJI Technology Co, the world's No 1 supplier of civilian drones, inspiring local rivals such as Xenosky and Flypro. BGI, the world's biggest gene research center, and Kuangchi Science, the main investor in New Zealand jetpack maker Martin Aircraft, are also based here.
Emerging industries such as information technology, biotech, green energy and new materials now account for about 40 percent of Shenzhen's economic output, Mayor Xu Qin said last month, according to state media. He gave no specific figures.
The three-year-old company scored a surprise hit with its first device, the OnePlus One, selling more than 1 million units in a marketing campaign that relied on social media buzz.
At OnePlus, the vibe is definitely more Silicon Valley than southern China, as staff glide around on skateboards and tend to the office dog. The company gets 80 per cent of its sales, all online, outside of China and is expanding in Europe, India and the United States.
