7th December 2008
I'm back to Shenzhen for the first time in nearly a year, I have a large office here (63rd floor of Di Wang Building, the tallest skyscraper in the city) and it's always good to be back here - I lived in the city for seven years back in the early 1990's. So it was with great pleasure I learned today that Shenzhen was awarded a UNESCO award yesterday for being a "City of Design", joining Montreal, Berlin, Kobe, Buenos Aires and Nagoya in the cities awarded the status since UNESCO began granting the status in 2004. See also: http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2008/12/08/shenzhen-becomes-first-winner-of-unesco-city-of-design-award.html
Certainly, a great deal of effort has gone into developing the city - when I arrived the population was about 3 million and it was half the size of Hong Kong, now it is 8 million and 30% larger than its southern neighbor. I always enjoyed living in Shenzhen - these were rock and roll days in China, with hardened oil riggers camped out at Shekou and the infamous Snake Pit Bar (which still exists, my firm handled its accounts for awhile) and the various other restaurants and bars of the time, it was a mini boom town. Now rig localisation has meant many expats have gone. But the beaches, to the west, remain great; Xiaomeisha and Daomeisha, picturesque and surprisingly clean water. I've seen tiger prawns in the shallows there, and the local sea food restaurants are excellent. One aspect of South China I always enjoyed was the typhoons blowing in, I'd get the bus to the beach in tshirt, shorts and flipflops and watch the waves crashing in, the rain driving horizontally as the gusts shoved it sideways, and big breakers coming ashore with a thundering crash. One time, I recall, as the Snake Pit was shuttered up with several of us inside, I ran out to put a pint beer glass outside in the rain, it filled up in a minute and we used the contents to dilute all we had left to drink - Amaretto. Good days, great memories and a city I'll always feel at home in.