Shenzhen: City of the Future. The high-tech life of China’s Silicon Valley

• Technology and innovation hub, Shenzhen is known as China’s “silicon valley” and “the city of the future”.
• Once a fishing village, in just 50 years it grew into a megacity packed with skyscrapers.
• It hosts international technology exhibitions and forums and attracts creators and investors from around the world, contributing to its population boom
• Inventors and engineers working here, create helpful robots, hybrid cars and smart car parks

China has a saying; to see the past, visit Beijing, to see the present, go to Shanghai but for the future, it’s Shenzhen. Shenzhen has transformed itself from a tiny fishing village to a megacity in just 50 years, its population tripling since the 1990s. The city is a magnet for tech-savvy and inventive dreamers from all across China and the world, because of them Shenzhen has become the “silicon valley” of China, a true technology and innovation hub.

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The sprawling metropolis is famed for its skyscrapers, hybrid cars, solar energy and for being home to a great many hi-tech companies. UBTECH is one of them; its focus is on making robots an indispensable part of everyday life. Its key product is the android – a human-like robot that can help out in the workplace and around the home as well as becoming both teacher and playmate for kids.

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Shenzhen municipal government encourages citizens to switch to eco-friendly, hybrid cars that use both fuel and solar energy. The vehicles are made by a local manufacturer, BYD. Public transport here is hybrid too helping maintain the city’s ecological reputation, which is among the best in China. The city’s rapid growth demands new solutions for optimising space. Shenzhen is one of the top 10 cities in the world for having the most skyscrapers. Today, its engineers are working on a solution to the ever present problem of parking by developing smart car parks that can automatically place cars in tight spaces while the driver simply walks away.

The technological achievements of the city's many companies are regularly showcased at popular international exhibitions and forums.

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