Geographical Advantages
Located at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta, Shenzhen neighbors the New Territories of Hong Kong in the south, Dapeng Bay in the east, the mouth of the Pearl River in the west and Dongguan and Huizhou in the north. It is the mainland's gateway to Hong Kong and world markets.

Environmental Protection
Located by the sea and mountains with a subtropical oceanic climate, Shenzhen has lush greenery, vegetation and beautiful scenery. In the year 2000, Shenzhen won the "International Garden City" prize. By 2006, green-space coverage in the built-up areas reached 45.0%, with 16.1 square meters of public park space per capita. Water quality is excellent and the industrial wastewater treatment rate reached 96.2%. Air quality is high 359 days a year.

Banking and Insurance
One of the city's pillar industries, the financial sector was discussed in detail in the Strategic Industries section of this report. To add to that, here are a few of the "firsts" that Shenzhen has achieved in the financial sector: Shenzhen is the birthplace of the first foreign-invested bank in China, the first joint venture insurance company, the first securities company, the first foreign exchange regulation center, the first Sino-foreign financial company, and the first electronic financial settlement center in China.

Cultural Advantages
Shenzhen, with an average annual temperature of 22.4C and average annual rainfall of 1,933mm, is a lush sub-tropical city, which has many theme parks and natural areas, including the "Windows of the World", "Splendid China", and "Minsk Aircraft Carrier" theme parks. Shenzhen also has a multitude of entertainment and recreational sports areas located in its many public gardens and beach areas.

Shenzhen is a new city whose inhabitants come from all over the country and so it benefits from a diverse cultural tapestry that other cities in China do not have. Not only does Shenzhen absorb culture from inland China but also foreign culture brought in from Hong Kong. The unique geographical and cultural environment in Shenzhen creates an open, tolerant and innovative new culture, which has also made Shenzhen the city of choice and most suitable area for overseas and domestic talents to settle and develop their businesses.

Government Effectiveness
Since the establishment of the special economic zone, Shenzhen has benefited from the country's preferential policies, which allowed the city to gradually create a good atmosphere for the new market system, improve the urban infrastructure and the city's environment. Its investment environment takes a leading position among all cities in the country. In addition, Shenzhen's government efficiency is relatively high and in recent years, the Shenzhen municipal government has been engaged in reforms to improve its operational efficiency. According to the evaluation of 120 cities in China launched by the World Bank in 2006, Shenzhen ranked 2nd in terms of Government Effectiveness.