Lin Min linmin67@hotmail.com WHEN Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ) was established 40 years ago, along with three other SEZs, it shouldered a string of daunting tasks to transform a nation that was struggling to feed 1 billion people after decades of rigid economic planning, political infighting and isolation from the outside world. Shenzhen then acted as a testing ground for bold reform measures, piloting new policies ranging from letting prices be set by the market rather than by the government, introducing contract-based employment and performance-based salaries, to allowing commercial housing development and land auction. These measures formed the backbone of a fledgling market economy that unleashed the productivity, creativity and entrepreneurship of hundreds of millions of people. Shenzhen served as a stepping stone for overseas investors to find abundant opportunities in a massive market with a low-cost, hard-working workforce. The success entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and other countries achieved in Shenzhen would then encourage more overseas investors to pour money into the Chinese mainland, bringing much-needed capital and technology to a country on the cusp of a successful epic industrialization drive. Shenzhen also played a vital role as an import and export powerhouse. By working with Hong Kong, Shenzhen helped the country export tremendous volume of goods to other parts of the world, import products ranging from electric fans, cassette recorders to TV sets to improve the life of the Chinese people, and bring in technologies and equipment to keep factories running. Riding on the back of a string of successes that created one of the industrialization and urbanization miracles in human history, Shenzhen went on to transform itself from a labor-intensive manufacturing city into a technology and financial hub for China. Now the metropolis, celebrating four decades of boom of the special economic zone this year, is developing into a city embodying the country’s future, with the city taking on new missions in developing the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and building “a pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics.” According to the guidelines issued by the Central authorities Aug. 18, 2019 for elevating the city to the new status of a “pilot demonstration area,” Shenzhen is now expected to take a leading role in launching more reforms and to develop itself into a national model of high-quality development and a “global benchmark city.” This means Shenzhen will become a new special zone to carry out bolder reforms as a model for other Chinese cities. Earlier this year a Xinhua report said that the Guangming Science City in northwestern Shenzhen, a cluster of scientific facilities and universities, now lies at the heart of China’s ambition to build the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into a science and innovation center. This megaproject is just one example showing Shenzhen’s new role in the country’s all-out efforts to develop science and technology. Such efforts have never been so important, as the Trump administration is building a “technological iron curtain” to curb China’s rising technological might. In response to the U.S. threats, China is now forming a “dual circulation” development pattern in which the domestic economic cycle plays a leading role while an international economic cycle remains its extension and supplement. To boost productivity as well as domestic demand, China has to realize industrial upgrading through building new infrastructure and launch a new round of industrial revolution through technology advancements. As a tech hub of the country, Shenzhen definitely should play a major role in developing home-grown ingenuity and innovation. Shenzhen should continue to leverage its advantages through its attractiveness to talents, full-fledged industrial chains and favorable government policies. In the first half of this year, chip companies and software firms in the city enjoyed 4.2 billion yuan (US$603 million) in tax exemptions and reductions. More tax incentives and support in other aspects will be needed to accelerate technology advancement. Shenzhen’s ambitious plan to build 1 million affordable apartments by 2035 will be instrumental in securing technology breakthroughs for which talented people will play an indispensable part. Yao Ting, a young doctoral degree holder who recently became a newsmaker for winning a Huawei employment contract worth 1.56 million yuan a year, told the media when asked what she will do with so much money: “Actually, with the housing prices in [parts of] Shenzhen at 100,000 yuan a square meter, 1.56 million yuan won’t accomplish that much.” Yao’s remarks highlight the fact that high housing prices have become a major hurdle for young people to settle in Shenzhen. Given Shenzhen’s track record in efficiency, hopefully the affordable housing plan will be swiftly implemented so as to quickly expand the city’s talent pool, one of the most-needed resources in sharpening its technological edge and spearheading further reform measures for the years, perhaps decades, ahead. (The author is a deputy editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Daily.) | 