The Shenzhen Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone made a remarkable appearance at the 21st China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair. The Zone showcased the integration of agriculture and cultural tourism, the preservation and innovative promotion of intangible cultural heritage, and the growing influence of “Automobile City” brand. The thriving cultural sector has become an integral part of the modern industrial system, demonstrating Shenshan’s strides in social and economic advancement.

In an effort to establish itself as a core hub for Shenzhen’s new-generation world-class automobile city, the Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone is making solid progress in serving as a strategic driver for high-quality development in eastern Shenzhen, and continuing to ramp up its efforts. As a result, the industrial landscape, in which the NEV industry features, and new-type energy storage, high-performance materials, and intelligent manufacturing equipment play supporting roles, has emerged. Accelerated population agglomeration is consolidating regional coordinated development, and the integration between industry, urban and rural areas is enjoying great momentum.

Cultural prosperity and industrial development are inseparable. The rising automobile city has grabbed the spotlight at the fair, allowing more people to understand, visit, and get fond of Shenshan.

Promoting high-quality integrated development of agriculture, culture, and tourism

The program “High-Quality Development of 100 Counties, 1,000 Towns, and 10,000 Villages”, which was launched three years ago, has scored preliminary results. At this moment, the Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone delivered satisfactory results in promoting high-quality integration of agriculture, culture, and tourism.

Over recent years, the Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone has tapped into its cultural tourism resources, leveraged its strengths such as a complete range of natural resources and various folk customs, and attracted professional developers from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to build a spectrum of high-quality tourist routes. The Zone now offers one-stop, full-chain services covering catering, accommodation, transportation, travel, recreation, and shopping, and has risen from being obscure to a sought-after tourist destination.

Through the construction of the “Wu Guang Shi Se” demonstration belt for urban-style villages, Shenshan has continuously improved rural landscapes and made strides in seeking integrated development of agriculture and cultural tourism. Da’an Village and Hongluo Village have been included among the first batch of demonstration villages for rural revitalization in Guangdong Province. Da’an has been rated as a national beautiful leisure village and chosen as a pilot site for the revolutionary and beautiful village program launched by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC. The development of industrial tourism routes dotted with large industrial enterprises and three high-quality rural tourist routes is underway. Agricultural and cultural tourism entities continue to grow. The Peach Garden Artistic Village Homestay Hotel has been recognized as a national class-A tourist homestay for 2024. The construction of cultural tourism projects in rural areas, including Dongfang Cultural Tourism, is in full swing. Catering and lodging consumption has brought about tangible benefits to local residents.

As sustained efforts are made to promote in-depth integration of sports and tourism, “sports + tourism” has injected a new drive into the development of cultural tourism in Shenshan. Shenshan has become the venue for a number of national events, including the National Horseback Archery Championship, finals of the China Paddleboard Club League, the 2025 South Guangdong Ancient Post Road Orientation Competition (Shenzhen Shenshan), and such events of emerging sports as the Huati Cup China Pickleball Open. Winding paths, which open up on an enhancing view and vary in hiking difficulty, including footpaths in Litou Mountain She Ethnic Village, paths on the outskirts of Xiaomo, and wild paths around streams on the outskirts of Dongdu, compose a hiking system in Shenshan, which stretches 100 kilometers and finds favor with hiking enthusiasts.

The Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone during the just concluded May Day holiday recorded a year-on-year increase of 57.5% and 53.5% in the total number of tourists and tourism revenues, respectively, highlighting the solid progress it has made in the high-quality integrated advancements in agriculture and cultural tourism.

Building the image of “Automobile City” to help boost industrial development

World-class automobile cities are mostly defined by strong and memorable cultural symbols. Building automobile culture with Shenzhen’s characteristics is an integral part of the three-year plan for transforming Shenzhen into a new-generation world-class automobile city.

As a core bearing area for Shenzhen’s goal of building a new-generation world-class automobile city, the Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone enhances top-level designs, works actively to build the image of “automobile city”, and takes solid steps to promote investment attraction, so as to expand the brand influence and leverage the enabling role of culture to facilitate industrial development.

A number of “Shen Wu Shan Ping” cultural and creative products showcasing Shenshan’s industrial and cultural features made their debut at the fair and were warmly received by visitors. This is an effective step among a combination of measures taken by Shenshan to build the brand of “automobile city”.

Images of the “Shen Wu Shan Ping” brand integrate Shenshan’s natural landmarks, images of intangible cultural heritage, and the vision of “three districts and three cities”. Three-dimensional cultural symbols, which are tangible, communicable, and emotionally resonant, are put in place to build an identification system featuring industry-culture integration, and to enable viewers to understand unconsciously Shenshan’s unique features and development potential.

At the fair, Ebu, Xiaomo, Chishi, and Houmen were exhibited separately for the first time as sub-districts. With a combination of featured regional culture and industrial strengths, the exhibition areas of the four sub-districts provided main platforms for visitors to gain insights into the brand of “automobile city”.

Ebu, a pilot industrial area and a cluster area of advanced manufacturing in Shenshan, retains the vibrant business vibe dating back to several millennia ago, gives free rein to the revolutionary and pioneering spirit of the Zone, and has therefore blossomed into an appealing “enclave economy”. Xiaomo boasts a favorable deep-water port, through which homegrown vehicles are exported abroad, emerges as a popular coastal tourist destination with a splendid coastline, and achieves harmony between industrial development and nature. Houmen is a gateway of eastern Guangdong into the Pearl River Delta, where the cluster area of headquarters economy in the robot-themed town and the cluster area of NEV innovation are located. Once a traditional fishing port, Houmen is now undergoing a remarkable transformation. Chishi, where natural conditions and culture complement each other, is embracing the future as the high-speed railway station is built, high-quality education resources are drawn, and a growing central urban cluster is pursued.

Spectacular scenes in Shenshan are unfolding gradually. From “making vehicles” to “building a new city”, and then to “fostering soft power through culture”, Shenshan is using culture in an intriguing way to build the image of an “automobile city” in the new era. As the building of the “automobile city” brand continues and involves more substantive cultural expressions, the Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone will surely march towards promising prospects of co-prosperity of industry and culture as a more distinctive city image.

Fostering cultural identity to enhance the appeal of Shenshan’s automobile city to talents

Talents are at the core of developing strategic emerging industries, while culture serves as the fertile ground that attracts and retains them.

The Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone fully leverages the pivotal role of culture in attracting professionals and pooling wisdom. Cultural identity has been fostered to appeal to and retain numerous talented people, laying a solid foundation for pursuing high-quality development.

The pioneering and courageous cultural traits are deeply rooted in Shenshan—China’s first “enclave” to be primarily administered by the place of departure as well as an “experimental field” for Guangdong Province to pilot regional coordinated development. These cultural traits have been crystallized into the “Five Particular Strengths” of Shenshan—particularly capable of taking on responsibilities, bringing forth new ideas, dealing with concrete matters, enduring hardships, and taking liberal-minded attitudes. The spirits serve as an important moral prop for the promising zone to attract talented people and stimulate vitality. As a result, a growing number of young talents, who aspire to serve the country through engaging in industrial development, settle down and pursue their dreams in Shenshan

As an old saying goes, “Home is where the heart is”. The display panel on “Livable Shenshan” at the fair attracted many young visitors. Shenshan is making solid progress in public services and social security and works to provide public service facilities concerning education, housing, and medical care in line with Shenzhen’s standards and practices in an effort to build a new demonstration area for high-quality living standards. Shenshan’s tremendous efforts to improve people’s livelihoods stem from its deeply rooted cultural inclusiveness inherited from Shenzhen. “Whoever comes to Shenshan is treated as a native” is far more than a slogan, but reflects a shared sense of identity among many new residents.

Beyond physical facilities, Shenshan holds cultural events to build a common spiritual homeland for its residents. A multi-dimensional system for cultural events regularly held quarterly, monthly, and weekly has largely taken shape. Through a number of cultural programs and events, high-quality cultural services and products are directly accessible to industry parks and rural residential communities, enriching residents’ lives through the dividends of high-quality development. A virtuous cycle of industry, talent, and culture has been forged in the Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone.

Shenshan, where culture and industry thrive together and talented people jointly pursue their dreams, is presenting itself to the world with more comprehensive and vibrant cultural images.