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Shenzhen is also known as Shumchun, and it’s a major sub-provincial city located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. It forms part of the Pearl River Delta megalopolis, bordering Hong Kong across the Sham Chun River to the south, Huizhou to the northeast and Dongguan to the northwest, and shares maritime boundaries with Guangzhou, Zhongshan and Zhuhai to the west and southwest across the estuary.
Shenzhen is a coastal city in the south of Guangdong Province, neighboring Daya Bay and Dapeng Bay to the east, Pearl River Estuary and Lingdingyang to the west, and Dongguan and Huizhou to the north and Hong Kong to the south. It is only 41 kilometers (25 miles) from Hong Kong. Benefiting from the superior location and China’s reform and opening-up policy, Shenzhen has become a modern and international metropolis since 1978. Dubbed as ‘China Silicon,’ today’s Shenzhen gathers more than 14,000 high-tech companies, including Huawei, Lenovo and Tencent. It also becomes the innovation hub as a new generation of start-ups emerging, which makes it the most competitive and innovative city in China.
Shenzhen has direct jurisdiction over nine administrative Districts and one New District, which is management areas, not administrative divisions registered under the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The Politics of Shenzhen in Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China. The Mayor of Shenzhen is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Shenzhen or Shenzhen Municipal Government. However, in the city's dual party-government governing system, the Mayor has less power than the Communist Party of Shenzhen Municipal Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "CPC Party Chief of Shenzhen" or "Communist Party Secretary of Shenzhen."
Shenzhen was the first of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to be established by paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. As a SEZ, Shenzhen is given the privilege to embrace market capitalism policies under the guise of "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics," unlike other cities in Mainland China, which is based on a planned economy. As of 2018, Shenzhen has a nominal GDP of 2.42 trillion RMB (HK$2.87 trillion), which recently had surpassed neighboring Hong Kong's GDP of HK$2.85 trillion and Guangzhou's GDP of 2.29 trillion RMB (HK$2.68 trillion), making the economic output of Shenzhen the third largest out of Chinese cities, trailing behind Shanghai and Beijing. In addition, Shenzhen's GDP growth between 2016 and 2017 of 8.8% surpassed that of Hong Kong and Singapore, with 3.7% and 2.5%, respectively. With a market capitalization of US$2.5 trillion as of 30 November 2018, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) is the 8th largest exchange in the world.
Shenzhen is the second largest transportation hub in Guangdong and South China, trailing behind the provincial capital of Guangzhou. Shenzhen has a developed extensive public transportation system, covering rapid transit, buses and taxis, most of which can be accessed by either using a Shenzhen Tong card or using QR codes generated by WeChat mini-programs.
Regarding air transport, Shenzhen is served by its own Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport and the neighboring Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). Located 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the center of the city, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport serves as the main hub for passenger airlines Shenzhen Airlinesand Donghai Airlines and the main hub for cargo airlines Jade Cargo International, SF Airlines, and UPS Airlines.
The Shenzhen Metro serves as the city's rapid transit system. The extension opened on 8 December 2019 put the network at 303.4 kilometers (188.5 miles) of trackage operating on 8 lines with 215 stations. Shenzhen is served by seven inter-city railway stations: Futian, Guangmingcheng, Pingshan, Shenzhen (also known as Luohu Railway Station) Shenzhen East, Shenzhen North, and Shenzhen West. As of August 2019, the city's bus system encompasses over 900 lines, with a total of over 16,000 electric vehicles, the largest of its kind in the world.