Shekou Industrial Zone

Shekou Industrial Zone
Simplified Chinese	蛇口
Literal meaning	Snake's Mouth
Transcriptions

Shekou is an area at the southern tip of Nantou Peninsula in Nanshan, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. It is located south of Nantou and faces Yuen Long, Hong Kong across the Deep Bay.

History

It was formerly a customs station in Bao'an County and now belongs to Nanshan District of Shenzhen. On 31 January 1979, it became Shekou Industrial Zone developed solely by China Merchants of Hong Kong, earlier than the formation of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. The event is chronicalled in the Chinese ballad "The Story of Spring (春天的故事)", long song by school children across the nation.

Since the 1980s, after foreign oil majors such as Agip,^[1] Chevron,^[2][3] Texaco,^[1] Statoil^[4] and Shell^[5] obtained concessions for oil exploration in the South China Sea, Shekou started serving as a base for a small contingent of foreign oil platform workers, since qualified personnel were not available locally. As a result of this first mover advantage in catering for mainly western tastes in housing, food and drink, entertainment and schooling, at a time when no alternatives were available in the area, Shekou gradually became home to the majority of the expatriate population working in and around Shenzhen and part of its hinterland in the Pearl River Delta. This trend has however abated after 2003, after the country's continued economic reforms. Development of other parts of the city and substantial increase in English levels of university graduates have made life in the city proper more acceptable to many foreigners without school-age children.

In 2003, the local government, seeking to capitalize on the foreign flavor of the town, invested in a complete make-over of Sea World, turning it into a western-style entertainment area centered on the grounded Minghua^[6] (明华) ship, a 14,000 ton, 168 m long vessel built in 1962 as a French ferry vessel purchased by China in 1973. It is commonly, though incorrectly, referred to by many Shenzhen locals as French president Charles De Gaulle's private yacht. The Minghua is now completely landlocked due to extensive local land reclamation and redevelopment efforts, but remains the epicenter of Shekou's vibrant and sometimes rowdy nightlife scene.

Transportation

Line 2 of the city's metro ends in Shekou and therefore is also known as the Shekou line. It has stations at Sea World and the Shekou port, amongst others.

Shekou Port Ferry Terminal offers regular ferry services to and from Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai. The customs and immigration process is completed upon disembarking the ferry. The Metro station is just beyond the taxi stand of the terminal. There are also buses travelling directly from the terminal to the Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport.^[7]

Shekou is also the mainland entry point for the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor that opened on 1 July 2007. It links Shekou with Yuen Long of Hong Kong.

Community

The area is well known for its expatriate community and the many foreign restaurants existing in the area.^[8]

Education

International schools include:

• Shenzhen Japanese School^[9][10]
• Korean International School in Shenzhen^[11]
• QSI International School of Shekou
• Shekou International School

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shekou.

• Ferry map with connections between Shenzhen, Macao, Hong Kong, HKAI, HK Kowloon, and Zhuhai
• living-in-shenzhen-shekou WIKI

Coordinates: 22°29′09″N 113°57′43″E / 22.485913°N 113.961868°E / 22.485913; 113.961868