This Was Shenzhen Just Before It Became One Of The Most Important Cities In The World

Mandarin Oriental just announced it plans to open a 1,300-foot skyscraper hotel in Shenzhen. The fact such a development was barely noticed is truly amazing — because not so many years ago, Shenzhen used to barely have hotels, let alone skyscrapers. In 1979, Premier Deng Xiaoping named Shenzhen a Special Economic Zone, meaning it would be immune from the strict Communist regime governing the rest of the country and would instead would be permitted to pursue private enterprise. At the time, ...