Will the wealthy metropolis of Shenzhen become a drag on the Chinese economy?
Shenzhen, a city that has played an undeniable positive role in China's reform and opening-up since 1980, has been in complete decline since the beginning of the year, according to a Chinese blogger. Even in the innovative industry, the city, nicknamed China's "Silicon Valley," has seen nearly four out of ten companies fall into the red.
Shenzhen “suddenly experienced an economic slowdown” in 2025, observes John Zai Shengang’s blog, which specializes in life in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The city’s special status, neighboring the former British colony, prompted the blogger to write this article to warn: “To be honest, the situation in Shenzhen this year is quite serious.” The article, immediately censored in China, was retained by the China Digital Times website .
Shenzhen, a city that symbolizes the Middle Kingdom's "reform and opening up," according to the policy launched in 1978 by former leader Deng Xiaoping, is one of the country's four "special economic zones." Its close proximity to Hong Kong and the favorable policies Beijing has pursued since 1980 have transformed this fishing village into China's most dynamic metropolis.
If this economic hub is at the same time a driving force of the most powerful economic province in the country (Guangdong), the leading exporting city and the capital of China's high-tech industries, as the author points out, he now notes a "complete disconnect" of the star city since the beginning of the year. Based on a specific case, namely the late payment of teachers at the public high school in the district
Courrier International
