Tourism in Shenzhen
Last year for Christmas, one of my friends gave me the Fodor's guidebook for China. Shenzhen, among the largest cities in Mainland China, gets only a one-sentence mention. The author of the book insists that because of the "opening up of China," Shenzhen is virtually indistinguishable from Hong Kong. Yeah, right.
After that there are no further mentions of Shenzhen. None. As I mentioned before, and probably most have by now read, Shenzhen wasn't really anything until China established the Special Economic Zone. Unlike places like Beijing, Shanghai, even Guangzhou, there hasn't been a long history of settlement and population. I mean there has, but not nearly to the extent of these other more well-known destinations. In Shenzhen, there is a Qing-era Hakka fortress and museum, and in Nantou something associated with Xin'an county, the name for the region from around the 16th century until the 19th century. But mostly, the "tourist attractions" of Shenzhen are like Shenzhen itself, of much more recent vintage. "Come see what we have built for you to see" should be the tourism motto.
One of the biggest is Window on the World . I have not been there, but it is a theme park full of scale replicas of major tourist attractions in the world. Why go to Paris, when the Eiffel Tower is faithfully rendered here in Shenzhen? Sydney Opera House? Manhattan? Arrive after 7 pm and you can see the world for 60 RMB! This is also where they have cultural demonstrations for holidays, like Thanksgiving. There are also two parks dedicated to replicas of Chinese historical and cultural artifacts, China Folk Cultural Villages and Splendid China. When we were in Shenzhen in the spring, we went to The Evergreen Resort for an afternoon (Qing Qing Shi Jie). This is a mountain park that is quite beautiful, except for the interruptions on the trails for features like Jurassic Park, a series of concrete dinosaurs in the trail. There are many sculpture installations, like these that look like something out of Apocalypse Now.
And there were really cool dragons built from recycled materials.
In Shekou, we have our own manufactured tourist destination, Hai Shang Shi Jie. Some of the English signs call it Sea World, some call it Marine World. This is where Starbucks is. It is also the location of McDonalds, TCBY, KFC (which are actually everywhere), Papa Johns (with sit down service and free wireless internet), an Irish bar, two Thai restaurants, an Indian place, a few nightclubs, etc. On any given day, and especially on Sundays, the area is full of Chinese tourists, sometimes in tour groups. One of the girls at the Nantou Church told me she likes to go down there and see the foreigners. I guess we are part of the attraction! Primarily, though, people come down to see the cruise ship permanently dry docked here. According to Wikipedia, this is a French vessel seized because it was suspected to be used in drug running. I wonder at that because it has a Chinese name and "Guangzhou" painted on it. It is a very luxurious but dated ship that now houses a hotel and a few restaurants. At the top of the ship is a German brew-pub, with several house-made Bayernische beers on tap and a real Bavarian menu (lots of boiled guts).
Here is a view of the ship from the top of Shekou's Bank of China building (no, not that Bank of China building). I took this photo after dinner at a sushi bar that was there in the spring.
And here's one that I took last week after they got the tree erected and the Santa painted onto the side of the ship.
In addition to wanting their pictures taken in front of this ship, a lot of the Chinese tourists also head over to the big statue of the Goddess.
And to give you an idea of scale, here is Myles in front of it. Can you tell this picture is from the spring?
Yes, I wish I knew what her name is. I was down there just this past week with a Chinese friend and she couldn't tell me her name.
After that there are no further mentions of Shenzhen. None. As I mentioned before, and probably most have by now read, Shenzhen wasn't really anything until China established the Special Economic Zone. Unlike places like Beijing, Shanghai, even Guangzhou, there hasn't been a long history of settlement and population. I mean there has, but not nearly to the extent of these other more well-known destinations. In Shenzhen, there is a Qing-era Hakka fortress and museum, and in Nantou something associated with Xin'an county, the name for the region from around the 16th century until the 19th century. But mostly, the "tourist attractions" of Shenzhen are like Shenzhen itself, of much more recent vintage. "Come see what we have built for you to see" should be the tourism motto.
One of the biggest is Window on the World . I have not been there, but it is a theme park full of scale replicas of major tourist attractions in the world. Why go to Paris, when the Eiffel Tower is faithfully rendered here in Shenzhen? Sydney Opera House? Manhattan? Arrive after 7 pm and you can see the world for 60 RMB! This is also where they have cultural demonstrations for holidays, like Thanksgiving. There are also two parks dedicated to replicas of Chinese historical and cultural artifacts, China Folk Cultural Villages and Splendid China. When we were in Shenzhen in the spring, we went to The Evergreen Resort for an afternoon (Qing Qing Shi Jie). This is a mountain park that is quite beautiful, except for the interruptions on the trails for features like Jurassic Park, a series of concrete dinosaurs in the trail. There are many sculpture installations, like these that look like something out of Apocalypse Now.
And there were really cool dragons built from recycled materials.
In Shekou, we have our own manufactured tourist destination, Hai Shang Shi Jie. Some of the English signs call it Sea World, some call it Marine World. This is where Starbucks is. It is also the location of McDonalds, TCBY, KFC (which are actually everywhere), Papa Johns (with sit down service and free wireless internet), an Irish bar, two Thai restaurants, an Indian place, a few nightclubs, etc. On any given day, and especially on Sundays, the area is full of Chinese tourists, sometimes in tour groups. One of the girls at the Nantou Church told me she likes to go down there and see the foreigners. I guess we are part of the attraction! Primarily, though, people come down to see the cruise ship permanently dry docked here. According to Wikipedia, this is a French vessel seized because it was suspected to be used in drug running. I wonder at that because it has a Chinese name and "Guangzhou" painted on it. It is a very luxurious but dated ship that now houses a hotel and a few restaurants. At the top of the ship is a German brew-pub, with several house-made Bayernische beers on tap and a real Bavarian menu (lots of boiled guts).
Here is a view of the ship from the top of Shekou's Bank of China building (no, not that Bank of China building). I took this photo after dinner at a sushi bar that was there in the spring.
And here's one that I took last week after they got the tree erected and the Santa painted onto the side of the ship.
In addition to wanting their pictures taken in front of this ship, a lot of the Chinese tourists also head over to the big statue of the Goddess.
And to give you an idea of scale, here is Myles in front of it. Can you tell this picture is from the spring?
Yes, I wish I knew what her name is. I was down there just this past week with a Chinese friend and she couldn't tell me her name.
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