Before Shenzhen was China’s answer to Silicon Valley, it was a small fishing town in southern China, notable mainly for its proximity to Hong Kong.

But today the city is an economic powerhouse of 12 million people, a tech hub home to giants like DJI and Tencent – and with a GDP comparable to that of South Africa.

The dramatic transformation happened seemingly overnight, and was made possible in part because of Shenzhen’s so-called urban villages, densely packed low-rise apartments in the city’s downtown.

Forty years ago, those urban villages were actual villages populated by Chinese farmers.

But then came the economic reforms initiated by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s. His new policies opened China’s economy up to the world, and established Shenzhen as the nation’s first Special Economic Zone.

The farmers and villagers of Shenzhen built cheap apartments to house migrant laborers who came to the city to find work.

This source of low-cost housing provided the fuel that built Shenzhen, and today still powers the development of Shenzhen and China’s tech industry.

But while urban villages played an important role in the success of the city, now they’re being targeted for demolition by the government.

Inkstone’s own Viola Zhou visited Shenzhen’s largest urban village of Baishizhou – White Rock Island in English – to talk with residents about why the neighborhood is important to Shenzhen, and how they feel about the coming demolition.

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