 Bordering Hong Kong and located at the heart of the booming Pearl River Delta, Shenzhen is both a hub for hi-tech industrial development and a manufacturing base which attracts thousands of international companies, and which plays host to China's annual flagship commercial trade event - the China Hi-Tech Fair. The city's logistics facilities are second to none with the two world class ports of Hong Kong and Fu Tian and the international airports of Hong Kong and Guangzhou nearby.
Shenzhen has been transformed by the vision of China's late Chairman Deng Xiao Ping, from a shabby backwater of 20,000 inhabitants to a booming industrial and commercial metropolis in an amazingly short 20-year time span. Its strategic location in close proximity to Hong Kong and its 1979 designation as China's first Special Economic Zone have contributed to its unmatched success. Shenzhen consistently places in the top three spots in multiple national categories, including population, production, and GDP per capita.
In 2006, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Shenzhen was 568.44 billion RMB, up 15.0% from the previous year. According to the Report on Comprehensive Competitiveness of Chinese Cities issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Science in 2007, Shenzhen ranks 2nd in terms of comprehensive competitiveness, behind only the internationally renowned trade-port of Hong Kong, its friendly neighbor.
Shenzhen's GDP: Rate of Increase
Shenzhen's Per Capita GDP: Rate of Increase
Foreign Trade Overview
Shenzhen plays an integral role in the nation's total volume of imports and exports, with a total import and export volume reaching US$237.41 billion, up 29.9% from the previous year. Of that, the total export volume amounted to US$136.11 billion, an increase of 34.1% over the previous year and amounting to 14.0% of the country's total. The total import volume was US$101.3 billion, an increase of 24.6% over the previous year. Shenzhen's import and export volume has been ranked number one among China's major cities for 14 consecutive years.
Shenzhen's export market is quite diversified with export volume to Hong Kong reaching US$58.14 billion, an increase of 29.0% over the previous year; exports to the United States of US$26.66 billion, an increase of 21.5%; and exports to the 25 EU nations totaling US$14.72 billion, an increase of 23.6%. Apart from that, exports to Canada, Korea and ASEAN experienced rapid growth, rising by 85.7%, 33.7% and 31.9% respectively. Oceangoing exports for 2006 reached US$54.62 billion, up 52.2% from the previous year.
The structure of export products was optimized, with rapid growth in the export of hi-tech products. The annual export volume of hi-tech products reached US$35.06 billion, 39.4% higher than the year before. The export volume of electrical machinery hit US$59.05 billion, an increase of 28%.
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