Shenzhen

广东，深圳

Shenzhen, Shenzhen, Shenzhen. This wasn’t actually my first time stepping foot here. I remember I had visited here back when I was 12, and 15 years later, it has changed so much that I don’t recognise it. It’s interesting to see how much it has developed. This is the city where my mum was born and raised. I had stayed with my relatives during my stay and it was a good opportunity to start getting a lot closer to them. As they were born and bred here, I adored listening to their stories of what life was like back in their youth, telling me what mum was like as well as pointing out the location where she was born. Somewhere in the mountains over there is what I could recall. I would consider this city as my second home alongside Hong Kong.

This year marks Shenzhen’s 40th birthday, the anniversary of the reform and opening up of this Special Economic Zone. To commemorate this special year, there is a light show in Futian which I believe is running till the end of the year. I didn’t realise there was a light show until someone next to me had mentioned it, however, no one knew what time it had started. At the time, the light show was new on the block and was still in it’s testing phase. It’s officially open now. Not many locals had known about this at the time, including my relatives. My auntie and I had waited an hour and a half and agreed if there’s still a no show by 8.30pm, we would leave. The show did actually start at 8.20pm and lasted for around 20 minutes. If you are going to be in Shenzhen sometime this year, and are planning to see this light show, here are the details below:

Time and Date
Every night until 31st December 2018
Sunday – Thursday: 7pm, 8pm
Friday & Saturday: 7pm, 8pm, 9pm

Duration
15 minutes

Location
Shenzhen Civil Center, Futian (福田区市民中心)

Where’s Best to See
Shenzhen Civil Center
– Civic Center metro station, exit C
– Children’s Palace metro station, exit C2, D, E

Lianhua Hill Park – hike to the top
– Lianhua Cun metro station, exit D
– Children’s Palace, exit F1

深圳市民中心
– 市民中心站C出口
– 少年宫站C2, D, E出口

深圳莲花山公园 – 山顶
– 莲花村站D出口
– 少年宫站F1出口

I have created a mini GIF below to give you guys a small glimpse of the light show.

What I had loved about Shenzhen was that you could see Hong Kong across the sea, just a stone’s throw away (4th photo and last photo below). I could have crossed over to Hong Kong but for once, I didn’t feel like going. Instead, I had wanted to spend all of my time within the Mainland. So much to see and do. Explore and discover something new. I actually wouldn’t mind living in Shenzhen in the near future.

Places featured in this post
Lianhuashan Park (莲花山公园)
Shenzhen Civil Centre (深圳市民中心)
Shenzhen Bay Park (深圳湾公园)
Sea World, Shekou (海上世界)
Overseas Chinese Town East (东部华侨城)
Yantian District (盐田区)

Other places I’ve visited
OCT Harbour (欢乐海岸)
Chung Ying Street (中英街)
Dameisha Beach (大梅沙)
Shenzhen Library (深圳图书馆)

Places I didn’t get the chance to visit
Wutong Mountain (梧桐山)
Meridian View Center (地王大厦观光中心)
Xiaomeisha Beach (小梅沙)
Window of the World (世界之窗)
China Folk Culture Villages (深圳中国民俗文化村)
Fairy Lake Botanical Garden ( 仙湖植物园)
OCT Loft Creative Culture Park (华侨城创意文化园)
Crane Lake Hakka Village (鹤湖新居)
Dapeng Fortress (大鹏城)

and many more…