As a special economic zone, the transportation network in Shenzhen has ranked among the first class all over China. Shenzhen Baoan International Airport is located on the east bank of Zhujiang River. It is only 35 kilometers away from the urban district. This airport also has special service for children, the old and the patients. Shenzhen Railway Station is on Luohu District. The station offers lines to the large or middle cities in China. There are 8 harbors in Shenzhen, including Shekou, Chiwan, Dongjiaotou, Mawan, Yantian and so on. Shekou has regular ships to Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Macao, Hong Kong and Kowloon everyday.

Shenzhen Baoan International Airport

Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, located at Bao’an, the western part of Shenzhen, is the fourth largest national airport. Over 200 flights land in Shenzhen every day from all over the world. It only takes 30~45 minutes drive to downtown, about 32 kilometers away. Till now, the airport has 110 domestic as well as international lines.

Shezhen Luohu Railway Station

The railways in Shenzhen can lead to everywhere in China. Jing-Guang Line and Jing-Jiu Line, two major trunks in China, meet in Shenzhen City. Shenzhen Railway Station is located on Luohu District, which is the most prosperous area in Shenzhen City. The station has comfortable waiting halls, large ticket hall and perfect service desks. Everyday, there are nearly 50 pairs of trains departing or coming in this station.

Shenzhen Long Distance Bus Station

As a special economic zone, the transportation system in Shenzhen has ranked among the first class in the whole China. There are several bus stations in Shenzhen, including Luohu Passenger Station, Futian Passenger Station and so on. Everyday, there are regular buses setting out to Guangzhou, Shantou, Fuzhou, Zhangjiang etc. Because every station has their own destinations, visitors should ask clearly before taking action.

Getting around Shenzhen by City Bus

Shenzhen has an efficient public transport network. At present, Shenzhen has 201 bus lines in total, including 126 lines in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, 30 lines in Baoan District and 31 lines between Baoan and Longgang. The time interval for most of the lines is 5 minutes. The operation hours are from 06:30 to 22:30. As to the ordinary buses, the ticket fare varies from 1 yuan to 7yuan, and as to the air-conditioned buses, the ticket fare varies from 2 yuan to 10 yuan. In recent years, the city is equipped with night buses which start with letter “N”.

Getting around Shenzhen by Taxi

You can call a taxi by waving hands, but don’t do it in prohibited areas. There are three kinds of taxis identified by colors: red, yellow and green. Red taxi can run long distance; the yellow ones can only operate in the special economic zone; and the green ones can only operate outside the special economic zone. Besides, Shenzhen has several star drivers who can speak in English.

Shenzhen has a mild, subtropical maritime climate with plenty of both rain and sunshine. The annual average temperature is 22.4; as many as 355 days per year are frost-free. Annual average rainfall is 1,933.3 mm and solar radiation is 2,120.5 hours. Tourism and tourist activities are possible all year round.

Shenzhen, situated just across the border from Hong Kong, is a beautiful coastal garden city in South China. It is a city of sunshine and modernity, where economic development keeps pace with social development, and people live in harmony with nature.

Shenzhen which is the China's first special economic zone established via the patronage of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping is a pioneering and innovative city. It is in the vanguard of China's reforms and opening up to the rest of the world. In its short history of 27 years, Shenzhen has developed from a small fishing village into a modern city with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capital which gives it premier ranking in China. This is a remarkable achievement, notable in the annals of urbanization, industrialization and modernization across the globe.

As Shenzhen embraces the world, concomitantly it is becoming internationalized. As China's first special economic zone, Shenzhen began to open up to the rest of the world in 1980, becoming one of the country's major channels of communication with the outside world. Shenzhen has 17 sea, land and air ports, including China's largest land passenger port and land cargo port. In 2011, the 26th Universiade will be held here, which will make Shenzhen the youngest city in history to host the Games.

Shenzhen is a city with deep cultural roots that sit in tandem with its forgetive and modern ethos. It is said to have a history of 5,000 years, but was only founded 27 years ago. Since its foundation, Shenzhen has built a migrant culture and an innovative spirit of "encouraging innovation and pursuing excellence." At the forefront of Chinese cities in promoting the use of voluntary services, it boasts about 530,000 volunteers in various fields of activity. Moreover, given the high level of public services offered by the city's government departments, Shenzhen is one of China's "10 Most Welcomed Cities for Rural Migrant Workers."

Geographical Location

Shenzhen is a coastal city, close to Hong Kong, in South China. Its longitude lies between 113.46 and 114.37 degrees east, and its latitude is between 22.27 and 22.52 degrees north. Sitting south of the Tropic of Cancer, it is in the south ofGuangdong Province. Demarcated from Hong Kong by Shenzhen River to the south, it is bordered by Dongguan and Huizhou to the north, Daya Bay and Dapeng Bay to the east, and Lingding Sea and the mouth of the Pearl River to the west.

Climate

Shenzhen has a mild, subtropical maritime climate with plenty of both rain and sunshine. The annual average temperature is 22.4; as many as 355 days per year are frost-free. Annual average rainfall is 1,933.3 mm and solar radiation is 2,120.5 hours. Tourism and tourist activities are possible all year round.

Urban Construction

In the 27 years since the foundation of Shenzhen, an urban infrastructure of streets, lighting, sewage, environmental care, drainage and transport has been developed in Shenzhen. The city government strives to improve its management of the infrastructure network. The city's construction area totals 719.88 square kilometers. In 2006, the city's investment in urban infrastructure reached 40.784 billion yuan, up 23.9 percent over the previous year. Tap water is now available for use in all households in the city.

Beautiful, Ecological Garden City

Shenzhen has a beautiful, natural environment. The green area of the city, with 16.01 square meters of greenery per person, covers 45 percent of the urban area. Forests cover 47.6 percent of the city's total land area. The city has 442 parks totaling 240.40 hectares. Shenzhen has won awards from domestic and overseas authorities, which include "Nations in Bloom," UNEP's "Global Top 500 Laureate Roll of Honor," "National Hygienic City," "National Model City for Environmental Protection," "Model City for Protection of Ozone Layer," "National Greenery Model City," "National Brilliant Tourism City."

Shenzhen is the "City of Parks." At present, the city has more than 400 parks, scenic zones, and forest parks. By 2010, the number of forest parks in the city will reach 17, which will make up 22.03 percent of the city's total land area.

Asia-Pacific International City, Adjacent to Hong Kong

Downtown Shenzhen is only a 45-minute drive from Hong Kong.  The government of Shenzhen plans, over the next 15 years, to modernize Shenzhen in accordance with socialist ideals and to develop the city into a key regional and international metropolis.

More than 13,000 expatriates live and work in Shenzhen on a long-term basis, which has been key to the increasing internationalization of the city. The expatriates come from 111 counties; most are representatives sent by foreign companies to China, employees of foreign-invested enterprises, cultural workers, teachers, and foreign students. In 2005, the number of foreigners who entered the country through various checkpoints in Shenzhen totaled 3.4 million. About 5 percent of the city's residential buildings were purchased by foreigners and people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

Shanghai Museum has a collection of over 120,000 items of cultural relics displayed on a floor space of 12,000 square meters. On the first floor are the Hall of Ancient Bronze Ware, Hall of Chinese Ancient Sculpture and a large exhibition hall; on the second floor are the Hall of China’s Ancient Sculpture and a large exhibition hall; on the second floor are the Hall of Chinese Ancient Pottery and Porcelain and a large exhibition hall; on the third floor are the Hall of Chinese Calligraphy of Different Dynasties, Hall of Chinese Painting of different dynasties and Hall of Chinese Seals of different dynasties; on the fourth floor are the Hall of Chinese Ancient Jade Ware, Hall of Chinese Coins of different dynasties. Hall of Chinese Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hall of Arts and Crafts of Chinese Minority Nationalities and a large exhibition hall. The 12 special topic halls displaying bronze ware, pottery and porcelain, paintings, calligraphy, sculpture, coins, jade ware, furniture, seals, arts, give a full picture of the brilliant course of the 6,000 years’ Chinese ancient arts. The museum adopts an advanced system of management, guiding and enquiry to render convenience to visitors.

Shanghai Museum Travel Tips

Admission Fee: free

Opening Hours: 09:30-17:30

Xintiandi is a car-free shopping, eating and entertainment area inShanghai. It is composed of an area of restored traditional shikumen (“stone gate”) houses on narrow alleys, a modern shopping mall with a cinema complex, and some adjoining houses which now serve as book stores, cafes and restaurants. Most of the cafes and restaurants feature both indoor and outdoor seating areas. Xintiandi has an active nightlife on weekdays as well as weekends, though romantic settings are more common than loud music and dance places. Xintiandi means “New Heaven and Earth”, and it is regarded as one of the first lifestyle centers in China.

The area was developed by the Shui On Group during the re-development of the surrounding area, when similar shikumen houses were demolished wholesale. The houses in Xintiandi were then restored, and now house an art gallery, cafes, and restaurants. The marketing of Xintiandi is mainly targeted towards overseas visitors, especially visitors from Hong Kong, who seek to experience the romanticized atmosphere of old Shanghai. As a result, prices in this area are high, even by international standards. Eating or shopping in this area is seen as a status symbol by affluent local residents. Many tour groups both domestic and abroad also visit Xintiandi as one of the main attractions in Shanghai.

Xintiandi Travel Tips:

Address: Huangpo South Road and Taicang Road.

Subway Station: Huangpo South Road of Line 1.

Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower was completed on Oct. 1, 1994. Being 468 m high, it is the highest in Asia and the third highest in the world, only next the TV towers in Toronto in Canada andMoscow in Russia. It stands opposite to the bund on the west bank ofHuangpu River. The architectural modeling of the tower is unique, expressing the flavor of oriental culture. The structure of the tower consists of 11 spheres, different in sizes and arranged at different levels, hanging from the sky down to the green lawns. It expresses the artistic concept of “pearls, big and small, dropping on a jade plate”. The body of the tower is formed of two huge glittering spheres and one small delicate sphere; the sightseeing level in the upper sphere is 45 m in circumference, 263 m high, offering a bird’s-eye view of the city. In the upper sphere at the 267-m level, there is a revolving restaurant, with one revolution every hour, a disco ball, a piano accompanied bar and at the 271-m level there are 20 KTV private rooms. The space cabin is at a level of 350 m, containing a sightseeing terrace, a meeting hall and a coffee room. Hotel in the Air is in the five smaller sphere with 20 guest rooms. The lower sphere contains a space city. There is a science fiction city inside the tower pedestal. The Oriental Pearl TV Tower combines sightseeing, catering, shopping, recreation, accommodation, broadcasting and TV transmission into one body. It has become a symbolic architecture and a favorable spot for tourists in Shanghai.

Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV Tower Travel Tips

Admission Fee: CNY50

Opening Hours: from 08:00-21:00