Field notes

Field notes on Shenzhen

Border crossings, payments, neighbourhoods and the people who live here. The things worth knowing before you arrive.

One area at a time, walked properly.

The Houhai skyline at dusk across Shenzhen Bay: a tapered tower with a spire, a white mesh arena at the waterline, and the towers reflected in the wet mudflat, with rocks in the foreground.

Neighbourhoods31 October 20266 min read

Shenzhen Bay: where the city stops

Thirteen kilometres of waterfront with Hong Kong on the far side, and a liner in Shekou that has not been to sea since 1983. How we do the west coast.

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Neighbourhoods24 October 20266 min read
Futian: the Shenzhen that was planned
Shenzhen’s downtown was planned in the nineties and built to the plan. The plan is one straight line, and it is best walked at dusk.
Neighbourhoods14 September 20264 min read
Dongmen: the Shenzhen that came first
Before the skyline there was Dongmen — pagoda roofs, snack streets, market floors. A walk through the old downtown, at the hour it wakes up.

Shenzhen Bay: where the city stops

Futian: the Shenzhen that was planned

Dongmen: the Shenzhen that came first