The manufacturing industry in Shenzhen has impressed the world from scratch within four decades. On August 20th, during the Civilization Exchange and Mutual Learning Bao'an Journey, we invited foreign friends to take a Time Machine with us in Bao'an, explore the modern growth Shenzhen experienced in the manufacturing industry, and see what to expect in the future.
Foreign friends explored the modern growth Shenzhen experienced in the manufacturing industry with GDToday.
The past: the emergence and a breakthrough
"Many people are curious about the secret of the 'Shenzhen Miracle'. I think partly it's about its people, who came here with dreams," Tim from Australia shared his thoughts while looking at the transportation tickets to Shenzhen, exhibited in the Shenzhen (Bao'an) Labor Museum.
Shenzhen (Bao'an) Labor Museum is the first special museum in China with the theme of labor history, and it is one of the strong witnesses of Shenzhen's reform and opening up history. It collects and displays more than 6,000 pieces of historical materials and artifacts, including border defense certificates, temporary residence permits, family letters, production tools, and so on.
Shenzhen (Bao'an) Labor Museum is the first special museum in China with the theme of labor history.
The museum is built on the former site of the Shangwu Heating Coil factory, which was the first "Three-plus-one" trading-mix (custom manufacturing with materials, designs, or samples supplied and compensation trade) enterprise in Shenzhen. From here, the story of Shenzhen manufacturing began.
After 40 years of development, Bao'an has become a highland for high-end and intelligent manufacturing and home to 956,900 registered businesses, of which 54,500 are manufacturing enterprises. There are more than 7,000 national high-tech enterprises in Bao'an, which makes Bao'an the top district among all the districts and counties in China in the past seven years.
"Many Brazilian companies attach importance to the Chinese market. I will tell them it's a must to visit Bao'an if they want to develop business in the manufacturing industry," remarked Felipe, a Brazilian entrepreneur.
The present: "They are all made in Bao'an"
Darko from Serbia took out his Insta360 panoramic camera at the company's headquarters. "My 'friend' has accompanied me on my travels to many countries for five years. She's home today," he said. Over the past three years, Darko has shared about 180 videos on YouTube, most of which were shot with the Insta360 camera.
Food delivery by drones is now part of daily life in Bao'an.
Founded in 2015 in Shenzhen's Bao'an District, Insta360 has become a global leader in intelligent imaging technologies and is nationally recognized as a single-product manufacturing champion and a "little-giant" enterprise. Its sales dominate the global consumptive panoramic camera market with a market share of nearly 60% in 2023.
Last year, Insta360 attached two Insta360 X2 cameras to a satellite and launched them 500km into outer space. This was the first time ever that a 360° action camera reached space.
Founded in Shenzhen's Bao'an District, Insta360 has become a global leader in intelligent imaging technologies.
Insta360 is one of the 21 national single-product manufacturing champions and 135 national "little-giant" enterprises incubated in Bao'an. The city has been focused on upgrading the industrial foundation and modernizing the industrial chain, and building a modern industrial system with stronger international competitiveness in recent years.
Mal, from Ethiopia, followed the example of the blogger @CrazyDudePaul, who dressed up like a honeybee and used a panoramic camera to take funny videos. "Tech products in Bao'an are so interesting!" he said.
The future: fly high in the low-altitude economy
After watching a drone descend on a pickup kiosk and retrieving bubble tea from it, Mal shared his excitement: "Food delivery hasn't gained steam in our country, but in China, I can order a delivery from the sky. It's fascinating."
Food delivery by drones is just part of daily life in Bao'an, and there are many other applications of low-altitude economy happening in the city. From the first blood transportation flight in Guangdong to China's first air traffic operation center for passenger-carrying autonomous aerial vehicles, and with 46 regular drone delivery routines, Bao'an has been taking the lead in the low-altitude sector.
With a strong drone manufacturing supply chain, Bao'an views the low-altitude economy as a strategic emerging industry and a new growth engine and released the first supporting policy package at the district level last year.
In the newly opened Bao'an District Low-altitude Economy Industry Public Service Center, which is the first of its kind in China, group members were amazed by the low-altitude aircraft displayed there. Darko, who once participated in designing an eVTOL, even shared the design philosophies of different aircraft with the group.
"Bao'an has lots of excellent talent and experienced companies, which are its unique advantages in the high-tech industry. I think what Bao'an has done deserves to be learned," he said.
Reporter | Wang Yue, Zhang Xinyue
Video | Liu Daiqi
Editor | Will, James
