# Shenzhen (1980): a new system that brought prosperity

> On 26 August 1980 China made Shenzhen, a farming area next to Hong Kong, its first Special Economic Zone, allowed to write its own market rules inside a…

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/lessons/shenzhen/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## The starting point

Shenzhen in 1980 was farmland, with a small market town of barely 30,000 people across the border from Hong Kong ([Hinrich Foundation](https://hinrichfoundation.com/research/article/fdi/reform-opening-up-china/)).

## The wave it rode

Factories were leaving Hong Kong for cheaper land and labour as China opened up to the world.

## What was new

A zone allowed to make its own market laws, welcome foreign investment and set its own land and labour rules, while the rest of China kept the old system ([Shenzhen Special Economic Zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen_Special_Economic_Zone)). The zone first covered 327 square kilometres, later 396 ([Hinrich Foundation](https://hinrichfoundation.com/research/article/fdi/reform-opening-up-china/)).

## How it brought people together

It was opt-in. People and companies moved there because of its rules. Deng Xiaoping visited in 1984 and again on his "Southern Tour" in 1992, which confirmed the reforms and sped them up across China ([Hinrich Foundation](https://hinrichfoundation.com/research/article/fdi/reform-opening-up-china/)).

## How fast it grew

From 1981 to 1993 Shenzhen's economy grew by an average of about 40% a year. Growth slowed to about 16% a year in 2001 to 2005 ([Hinrich Foundation](https://hinrichfoundation.com/research/article/fdi/reform-opening-up-china/)).

## The result

China's state broadcaster reports that Shenzhen's GDP rose from 2.7 billion yuan in 1980 to 3,460.6 billion yuan in 2023, and its population from 332,900 to 17.79 million ([CGTN](https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-08-22/Shenzhen-How-China-turned-a-fishing-village-into-a-global-tech-hub-1whpjII8bDy/p.html)). It is now one of the world's main technology centres.

## Sources differ

The 1980 starting figures vary widely. Some give 1980 GDP as about 270 million yuan rather than 2.7 billion, and population counts for 1980 range from about 30,000 in the town to about 330,000 in the wider area.

## What critics record

Shenzhen's growth came with harsh conditions for migrant workers and heavy pollution ([Shenzhen Special Economic Zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen_Special_Economic_Zone)).

## What it shows for Somalia

A single place with new rules, next to a busy trade route, can grow faster than anyone expects, and its success can change a whole country's mind about what is possible.

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