Shenzhen China’s Southern Powerhouse

This beautifully designed coffee table-sized photo-book documents Shenzhen’s meteoric 40-year rise from rural obscurity to becoming one of China’s leading financial and technological centers.

The book contains nine satellite images, 175 B&W historical and recent colour photographs, as well as stunning drone photography from awarding winning photographer Wu Guoyong. Rare helicopter photos taken by Shenzhen-based photojournalist Zhang Xiaoyu during the 1990s give context to the extraordinary transformation this young city has undergone.

As well as a timeline and extensive photo captions, essays covering a range of topics are also included. Wong How Man, the president and founder of the China Exploration & Research Society, Hong Kong-based veteran journalist David Dodwell, Beijing-based travel writer Thomas Bird, Shenzhen-based copywriter Mike Bossick and Shenzhen Superstars author Johan Nylander, contributed their expertise and penmanship to the book.

This publication would not have been possible without the generous support of the China Ping An Financial Group, the rise of which parallels Shenzhen’s own success story. The Ping An Financial Centre is the fourth tallest skyscraper in the world. This iconic building towers over Shenzhen’s cityscape, dominating many of the panoramas featured throughout the book.

Thomas Bird is a seasoned travel writer specializing in East Asia who has contributed to a host of guidebooks and international publications. Mike Bossick moved from California to Shenzhen in 2003 in order to work as an executive editor on a Disney book series. He has since worked as an editor, and writer for Huawei, TCL and others. Johan Nylander is an award-winning author and China and Asia correspondent, frequently published by CNN, Forbes and Sweden's leading business daily, Dagens Industri. He is the author of Shenzhen Superstars – How China's smartest city is challenging Silicon Valley. David Dodwell is the executive director of the Hong Kong-Apec Trade Policy Group. He is a journalist and expert on international business, global trade, and economic and political systems. Wu Guoyong worked as an engineering consultant in Shenzhen before he devoted himself to photography. He is one of the first drone photography pioneers in Shenzhen.