Bookreview: "Shenzhen - The global economy of tomorrow".

Former business editor and reporter Wolfgang Hirn has been traveling to China regularly since 1986 and writes about China-related topics. This is just one of his many books about China.

More specifically, this book is about a city in China: Shenzhen. You could say Shenzhen is an experiment. A futuristic, capitalist model city in communist China, where entrepreneurs, inventors, scientists, architects, artists, and even the municipal government are allowed to run wild. Shenzhen's businesses and government are governed by different laws than other parts of China. This is because Shenzhen, which is located right next to Hong Kong, has been a special economic zone since 1980.

Shenzhen was founded in 1979. Previously, there were only villages in this place, which made their living with fishing or agriculture. Today Shenzhen is the most advanced city in the world. Shenzhen is the city where most patents are held, is home to many world-leading companies, both Chinese and non-Chinese companies have set up their research centers here, has switched completely to e-mobility, is the greenest and fastest growing metropolis in the world, is set to become the first smart city and holds numerous world records to which more will be added in the coming years. In his book, Wolfgang Hirn explains why this is so and how it came about.

In ten chapters, Hirn writes about different aspects. From the opportunities in Shenzhen that do not exist in other places in the world, the aggressive corporate culture, the technological edge within the city, the companies & research compared to the rest of the world, to education and culture, infrastructure, architecture as well as other points that make Shenzhen unique. He also addresses how Shenzhen and Hong Kong benefit from each other and how China wants to create the new power center of the world under the name "Greater Bay Area".

Hirn explains in an understandable way how Shenzhen has gone from fishing villages to being the factory of the world, a copycat of the West, and then the think tank for innovation and progress. Among others, Huawei is mentioned, but also listed companies like Tencent, Ping An, BYD or Xiaomi.

Hirn's personal experiences make the book seem very authentic. In between, however, I had to remind myself that I am not reading a science fiction novel. What the Chinese have created in just a few years is incredible and at the same time a bit frightening when compared to US American but especially European (barely existing) progress.

Hirn shows why he believes that Shenzhen is setting the global economy of tomorrow. He points out weaknesses, but above all the strengths of this metropolis, which is allowed to operate completely differently than large parts of communist China.

Rating: 5/5 stars

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This book provides insight into a society, a system, a culture that is difficult for most of us to observe. The personal experiences of Hirn and his interviewees, mixed with facts and figures, shed light on what incomparable things are happening in Shenzhen.

For anyone passionate about this success story and the system behind it, this is a clear book recommendation! For active entrepreneurs or those interested in business, this book could also be one for the watchlist.

I bought my book (2020 edition) used for 15€, new you can get it for 25€ at Amazon.