Books About Shenzhen
What happens if you search on Amazon for books with “Shenzhen” in the title?
Here are Amazon’s recommendations:
The books:
– Fourth International Symposium on Optical Storage (Isos ‘96): 22-26 April 1996 Shenzhen Guangdong Province China (Paperback)
Verdict: BORING!
–Gender and the South China Miracle: Two Worlds of Factory Women (Paperback)
Verdict: Could be interesting despite the blurb “The author concludes that it is primarily the differences in the gender politics of the two labour markets that determine the culture of each factory, arguing that gender plays a crucial role in the cultures and management strategies of factories that rely heavily on women workers.”
–The Death of a Shenzhen Angel (Paperback)
Verdict: Something about this phrase got my proxy cut by China internet, so could be interesting! According to a reviewer: “The plot of the book is somewhat predictable as it has feel of some B-rated cheesy love/drama movies. The book, however, does an excellent job of explaining changes that is gripping China ever since Deng Xiaoping’s open reform policy opened up China’s economy.”
–Shenzhen (Paperback) by Guy Delisle
Verdict: totally excellent book - a Tintin comic book style narration of a foreigner in Shenzhen. Hilarious and insightful. Anyone coming to China, especially Shenzhen, should read this.
This is proving to be an interesting topic… Every time I post a new element to this I get cut off by China internet filters. Reading books corrupts the nation…Blogging weakens the state!
–High-performance Ceramics III: Proceedings of the Third China International Conference on High-performance Ceramics (CICC-3), Shenzhen, China, May 9-12, 2004 (Key Engineering Materials) (Paperback)
Verdict: Set to compete with the next Harry Potter for sure.
–Modernization in China (Hardcover)
Verdict: Obviously dry and academic; most likely out of date in any normal life related observations, unless these guys got stuck into ‘field work’ in the evenings… “Based on extensive research and field-work, this book provides up-to-date information on the progress of the zones, and analyses their background, economic potential and planning implications, with particular emphasis on the most advanced of the zones, that of Shenzhen.”
–Pioneering Economic Reform in China’s Special Economic Zones: The Promotion of Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer in Shenzhen (Hardcover)
Verdict: Another academic sounding paper… “an in-depth case study of the largest zone - Shenzhen. The major theme is that spatial placement and unique planning activities, which are not found elsewhere within China, are more important in explaining the performance of SEZs than is acknowledged in the existing literature.” - Yes, just for the record, Shenzhen has planning, and other places don’t.
–SHENZHEN GREAT OCEAN SHIPPING CO. LTD.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (Financial Performance Series) (Ring-bound)
Verdict: Preorder now.
Shenzhen is a big enough city and a big enough story. Where are the real books and travel guides? They are overdue considering the large number of books about Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. As Shenzhen continues to show, having a long history isn’t everything.