The Shenzhen Effect 深圳效应

乔纳森·查特温

Chinas original ‘model city matters more than ever.中國原先的“示范”城市比以往任何时候都重要。

By 2035， Chinas government expects over 70% of the countrys population—around a billion people—to be living in cities. China is， with increasing haste， looking to develop entirely new urban areas in order to provide homes， jobs and infrastructure—all while driving economic growth.

The most high-profile of these is Xiongan， a new city being built across three counties in Hebei province， 100 kilometers to Beijings south west. Its expected to house up to 2.5 million people. Large-scale construction began in 2019 and， over the next decade， an ambitious government plan will see many of Beijings businesses， universities and hospitals relocated to this new city， alleviating pressure on the capital and encouraging hi-tech economic development in a traditionally industrial area.

Across the country， Chinas government is investing trillions of yuan to establish new areas and development zones， many of which act as satellites to existing cities. To the south of Chengdu， the cap-ital of Sichuan province， Tianfu New Area has been developed over the last decade and is soon set to open Unicorn Island， a 166-acre technology hub designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. In Changsha， capital of Hunan province， the vast and similarly ambitious Xiangjiang New Area is intended to attract hi-tech industry and is home to the countrys first test zone for autonomous public transport.

These projects all look back to one city for inspiration： the godfather of urban transformation and the countrys “model” city， Shenzhen. Now home to over 13 million people， the southern metropolis is the Chinese governments proudest symbol of the last 40 years of economic reform.

Building on Shenzhen

On September 4， 1984， the sound of firecrackers echoed through the streets of Shenzhen as the city celebrated the completion of the International Trade Center， its—and， at the time， Chinas—tallest building.

Deng Xiaoping， the countrys then paramount leader， had visited the site earlier that year and had given the pro-ject his seal of approval1. The speed of construction， which—though it began slowly， partly due to a lack of proper equipment—eventually reached a rate of one new floor every three days. The pace with which the upper floors of the tower were built2 became known as “Shenzhen speed，” part of the pervasive mythology that clouds the origins of this so-called “Instant City.”

For visitors to Shenzhen in the 1980s， the 50-story skyscraper dominated the citys skyline. Over time， however， neighboring buildings would reach， and then exceed， the International Trade Center. As Juan Du， an architect and author of new book “The Shenzhen Experiment” observed in an email interview： “This cluster of tall buildings became the image of Chinas post-reform modernization and urbanization.”

Special Economic Zones

As China began reforming its economic system and opening up to the world， Shenzhen was established as one of Chinas first four “Special Economic Zones，” or SEZs. All four were chosen for their favorable geographical position and access to global markets， with Shenzhen located just across the river from the international hub of Hong Kong.

The countrys urban spaces have long emphasized the importance of symmetry， with streets traditionally laid out in straight lines running east to west and north to south. Following these principles， Shenzhen initially spread out along its first east-west avenue， whilst the citys main Central Business District was laid out along a prominent north to south axis， flanked by skyscrapers and landmark architectural projects.

Shenzhen was not， however， a blank slate onto which a symmetrically ordered city could be drawn. Existing villages within the boundaries of the Special Economic Zone grew exponentially， as they were often the first destinations for the thousands of newcomers looking for an affordable place to live.

Those who owned village properties would quickly extend their houses upwards and outwards to offer low-rent accommodation for new arrivals. “Without the villages， the city would never have grown with the famous ‘Shenzhen speed，” Jonathan Bach wrote in “Learning from Shenzhen，” a collection of essays on the city. “The city could never have sustained the cost of housing and supporting so much labor.”

A new city center

One source of new land has been found by building onto what was once the sea. Through extensive land reclamation， the waterfront at the citys southern edge was extended into the bay almost 20 years ago. A new city center business district， dubbed Shenzhen Bay Headquarters City， is now being built on that land.

In a city where “oversize impassable highways crisscross the city and isolate neighborhoods from each other，” as Claude Godefroy of Henning Larsen Architects put it， Shenzhen Bay will be pedestrian friendly. A waterfront promenade will be lined with bars and restaurants， correcting “an historic failure in Shenzhens urban planning： its disconnection with the sea，” he added. “Citizens complain that they sometimes forget they are living in a coastal city.”

Xiongan， the new model city

Beijings new satellite city， Xiongan， is Chinas latest attempt to replicate the success of Shenzhen. State media has referred to Xiongan as the “Shenzhen of the North”.

There are differences between Xiong- ans development and that of Shenzhen， however. It will mainly serve a center for domestic， rather than international， industries. The government also emphasizes that Xiongan will be a green “smart city，” built on a more human scale and with lower population density than sprawling megacities3. The city will be comparatively low-rise， and free from the ever-taller skyscrapers that define most new urban developments.

When Xiongan was first announced， a rush of real estate trading led the government to freeze property sales. The government has subsequently restricted speculation further by announcing that housing in Xiongan will be subject to strict state controls—a substantial change to the policy of Shenzhen， where property development was a key driver of economic growth.

One key similarity between the two cities， however， is in the way Xiongan will be integrated into a greater conglomeration of urban centers. Just as Shenzhen now blends almost impercept-ibly into the Pearl River Deltas other cities， such as Guangzhou and Dongguan， so Xiongan will be connected via high-speed rail with Beijing and Tianjin， to its east， to form a 130-million-person megalopolis nicknamed ‘Jing-Jin-Ji （a portmanteau4 of the names of Beijing， Tianjin and “Ji，” an ancient name for Hebei province）.

The extent to which Xiongan will copy—or diverge from—the template established by the model city of Shenzhen remains to be seen. But what is indisputable is that Shenzhens example remains hugely influential in Chinas urban planning， even four decades after the city was established.                       ■

中國政府预计，到2035年，将有70%以上的人口（约10亿）生活在城市。中国在推动经济增长的同时，正以越来越快的速度寻求发展全新的城市区域，以提供住房、就业机会和基础设施。

其中最引人注目的是雄安——一个横跨河北省三个县、距北京西南100公里的在建新城。雄安新区预计可容纳250万人。大规模建设始于2019年，按照政府庞大的规划，在未来10年，北京的许多企业、大学和医院将搬迁到这个新城市，从而减轻首都的压力并鼓励这片传统工业区发展高科技经济。

中国政府在全国各地投资数万亿元人民币建立新区和开发区，其中许多都是现有城市的卫星城。在四川省省会成都以南，当地政府过去十年来一直在建设天府新区，并且很快开放由扎哈·哈迪德建筑师事务所设计、占地166英亩的技术中心——独角兽岛。在湖南省省会长沙市，面积广阔且同样目标宏大的湘江新区旨在吸引高科技产业落地，并且它还是中国第一个自动驾驶公交试验区的所在地。

这些项目的灵感都来自一个城市：城市转型的鼻祖、中国“示范”城市——深圳。如今，这座拥有超过1300万人口的南部大都市是中国政府过去40年经济改革最引以为傲的象征。

建设深圳

1984年9月4日，深圳街头鞭炮齐放，庆祝国贸大厦竣工。深圳国贸大厦是深圳乃至当时中国最高的建筑。

当时的国家最高领导人邓小平在那年早些时候亲临现场，并正式批准了该项目。施工起步缓慢，部分原因是缺乏适当的设备，但最终达到了三天新建一层楼的速度。大楼高层的建造速度被称为“深圳速度”。关于深圳这座所谓“速生城市”的缘起众说纷纭，种种说法就像有流传甚广的神话云山雾罩，而这一速度是神话的一部分。

对于20世纪80年代到深圳的游客来说，这座50层高的摩天大楼成了深圳天际线上的重要地标。但是渐渐地，附近会有建筑达到甚至超过国贸大厦的高度。新书《深圳实验》的作者杜娟是一名建筑师，正如她在一次电子邮件访谈中所说的那样：“这些高楼大厦构成了中国改革后现代化和城市化的形象。”

经济特区

随着中国开始改革经济体制并向世界开放，深圳被确立为中国最早的四个“经济特区”之一。选择这四个城市是因为它们具有优越的地理位置和进入全球市场的机会，而深圳与国际枢纽香港隔河相望。

长期以来，中国的城市空间一直强调对称的重要性，依照传统，街道沿东西向和南北向直线排列。深圳遵循这些原则，最初沿它的第一条东西向道路扩展，而它的主要中央商务区则沿着明显的南北轴线扩展，两侧是摩天大楼和地标性建筑工程。

然而，深圳并不是一块可以将所有城市规划都在上面对称绘制的空白画板。由于成千上万新来的人要寻求负担得起的住处，经济特区范围内的现有村庄往往是他们的首选目的地，因此村庄规模成倍增长。

那些在村里拥有房产的人迅速向上和向外扩建房屋，为新移民提供租金低廉的住房。乔纳森·巴赫在关于深圳这座城市的文集《向深圳学习》中写道：“没有这些村庄，这座城市当时绝对不会以著名的‘深圳速度发展，也绝对承受不了安置和养活如此多劳动力的成本。”

全新的城市中心

人们发现了新土地的一种来源——将原有的海域改建为陆地。大约20年前，通过大规模的填海造陆，深圳南部边缘的滨水区扩展到了海湾。现在，一个被称为深圳湾超级总部基地的新的市中心商业区正在这片土地上建设。

正如享宁·拉森建筑师事务所的克劳德·戈德弗罗伊所说，在深圳，“超大型、无法通行的主干道路纵横交错，将社区彼此隔断”，但深圳湾将是方便行人的。他补充说，还将建一条海滨长廊，两边酒吧和餐馆林立，由此纠正“深圳城市规划的历史性失误，即城市与大海不相连……市民抱怨他们有时都忘记自己生活在沿海城市了”。

新兴示范城市——雄安

北京的新卫星城雄安是中国复制深圳成功榜样的最新尝试。官方媒体称雄安为“北方的深圳”。

然而，雄安与深圳的发展模式之间是存在差异的。雄安将主要作为国内而非国际产业中心。政府还强调，雄安将是一个绿色的“智慧城市”，与无序扩展的巨型城市相比，建设更加人性化，人口密度也更低。雄安的建筑相对较低，也没有越建越高的摩天大楼，而后者是大多数新城市发展的主要特征。

最初宣布设立雄安新区时，房地产交易掀起一股热潮，这导致政府冻结了房地产销售。随后，政府宣布将对雄安的住房实行严格的国家管控，从而进一步限制了投机活动。这与深圳的政策有很大区别，深圳的房地产开发曾是那时经济增长的主要驱动力。

然而，这两个城市之间的一个主要相似之处在于，雄安也将融入一个更大的城市集群。深圳现在几乎难以察觉地与广州、东莞等珠江三角洲的其他城市融合，同樣地，雄安也将通过高速铁路连接北京和位于它东面的天津，形成一个覆盖1.3亿人口的京津冀城市群——北京、天津和河北省（古称“冀”）的合称。

雄安将在多大程度上复制或偏离深圳示范城市建立的模式，还有待观察。但毋庸置疑的是，即使在深圳建成40年后，该市的示范作用在中国的城市规划中仍然具有巨大的影响力。                                       □

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）

1 seal of approval官方批准，正式批准。

2 1982年6月，中建三局以“滑模施工”中标国贸大厦工程。如此大面积的滑模施工国内尚无先例，项目试验中前三次试滑均不成功。历经4个月的技术攻关，从第5层开始，工程建设速度越来越快，从30层开始，持续以3天一层的速度滑升到顶。

3 megacity巨型城市（人口超过一千万的城市）。

4 = portmanteau word缩合词，合并词 （由一个词的词首和另一个词的词尾合成）。