Shenzhen

Hello Excellent Ones,
It has been raining, it has been dreary, so Elsie and I did something rather spontaneous yesterday to cheer our selves up a bit.  We hopped on the train, rode north for half an hour through the Hong Kong Territory and went into Shenzhen, China.  Some quick facts about Shenzhen first.   In 1979 Shenzhen was a little fishing village just over the walled border between Hong Kong and China.  Think old East/West Germany and its border.  A big bad wall with plenty of razor wire and guards with orders to kill anyone foolish  enough trying to cross.  

Yet the Chinese government decided in 1979 to do an experiment with Shenzhen.  It made the little fishing village a "Special Economic Zone."  They called it "socialism with Chinese characteristics."  Yeah right. "Over the top capitalism" is what it really should have been called.  The Chinese government chose Shenzhen due to its proximity to Hong Kong, one of the world's most blatant capitalistic places on earth.  The experiment's goal was to attract business interests from Hong Kong and around the world by offering a place where they would be charged little or no taxes to run their businesses and have access to a work force that would work for practically nothing.
Well this little experiment basically worked well to say the least.  Businesses from Hong Kong and around the world poured in and at last count 30 billion US dollars has been invested into Zhenshen making it one of the fastest growing cities in the world even 30 years later.  More Special Economic Regions followed and it  propelled China to where it is at today, the world's second largest economy, soon to be number 1, a country whose investments around the world, Africa, Brazil and yes Canada is basically keeping this world afloat economically.  The leader of Brazil was asked why they are doing so well economically now after years of tough sledding.  "Chinese investment," he said.  Any way Shenzhen in 32 years has grown to a city of 14 million!  Include Hong Kong's 8 million that makes 22 million in an area much, much , much smaller than Alberta.  Thank God there are some green patches and nature parks around here!

Ok back to the trip Elsie and I took.  We crossed the border into China, it reminded me so much of the old East Germany days, minus the guns, lots of passport controls, lots of cool stamps from unsmiling guards, lots of waiting around,  that is so painful for me, yet when we got through we took a short walk to  the Luohu Commercial  Market Mall.  We had  been told about this "mall," but seeing is believing.  Really the mall should call itself the: "The Knock off Centre of the World."  You can literally get anything and everything here for a very decent price.  There are thousands of little shops, it is a maze where you can easily get lost in.  You can also get clothes tailor made.  Elsie came with a few pictures of what she wanted, I came with a sample shirt and after was all said in done we were fitted for clothes that in Canada would have set us back around $1000 Canadian.  Instead we paid about $350 Canadian.  We also bought several DVD's, that were of good quality for about 3 dollars a disk.  It was quite an experience being at this place and I will let the pictures and comments give you a better idea of this place where, "socialism with Chinese characteristics," thrive.
Have a great week everyone and I hope you are enjoying your summer!

Love adios and peng on,

Dirk