TheSZWeb | Shenzhen News and Commentary

What is the easiest way to get from Shenzhen to Hong Kong, and vice versa? The answer as of now is undisputably: Futian Checkpoint.

You can get to Futian Checkpoint by taking the Shenzhen Metro to Huanggang Metro Stop at the bottom of Line 4. It’s easy to cross the China / HK border inside the checkpoint building, and once on the other side you are in Lok Ma Chau KCR station.

Lok Ma Chau is the rail connection to the rest of Hong Kong. Journey time between the SZ side of the border crossing and downtown Hong Kong is about 1 hour.

That is a lot faster and less stressful than crossing at Luohu, and miles easier for tourists than negotiating the extremely hectic Huanggang coach station.

You cross the Shenzhen river on a moving walkway; the China side conveyors are usually broken or switched off, of course.

You can get good views of downtown Shenzhen from the other side of the river after crossing the checkpoint.

From the checkpoint bridge you can see the Futian Free Trade Zone and the 4 Points Sheraton Hotel.

The Hong Kong / Lok Ma Chau side of the checkpoint is being marketed as an instant cross border shopping center. At the moment it is shiny and empty with only a few shops open.

Futian Checkpoint is quiet, clean, and easy to get through. Totally the opposite of Luohu and Huanggang basically.

The Futian Checkpoint footbridge seen from the Hong Kong side.

The Hong Kong side of the Shenzhen River is just ponds and farms. An abrupt and amazing contrast to the sprawling urban development of Shenzhen.

This is where Hong Kong produces all those mosquitoes that bite us in Shenzhen.

The Futian Checkpoint seems to have been designed for a greater flow of travelers than Luohu. There are at least 50 gates, mainly for Hong Kong residents to pass through the passport control. This is particularly dumb design because most regular HK border crossers use the hand scanners and thus move quickly through. The slow ones are the “foreigners”, who need manual examination of passports and stern gazes from the police. At Futian Checkpoint, as with Luohu, there are only a handful of gates given over for foreigners, but currently it’s all good because no one seems to have found out about the checkpoint yet, and it’s so empty even at weekends you can just stroll through without queueing.

Conclusion: if travelling between HK and SZ, and you are not close to the Shekou Ferry Port, this is the no.1 best way to do it. Don’t try to get to the checkpoint by car, however, because it is crappily designed to have zero taxi access, and the whole area around is mobbed by illegal taxis, fake goods sellers, hotel room naggers (you will know them when you feel them pulling your clothes), and the local Huanggang fishnet stocking brigade. At least the HK backpackers have something they need the moment they’re across the border.

Car Parking in the center of Shenzhen is getting ridiculously expensive… more expensive per square foot than office space:

• Annual parking place at Diwang: 10,860 RMB (up 40% from 2005)

• Average office space in Diwang = 120-130RMB/ sq m, about 20 RMB less than the monthly rent for a sq m of parking space

• CITIC plaza – 650 RMB / month, up 62%

• MIXc and China Resources Building = 12,000 RMB / yr

Part of the reason for the high fees is the “commercial land use fees” payable to the SZ Govt per sq m – about 3000 RMB per year per spot, which is exacerbated by not having all the parking spaces rented out. The reason for these new fees (starting Sep 06) was a deliberate drive to top people driving into the city center. Hm, dream on.

from the SZ Daily in May 07:
Fears raised over parking lot speculation

 WHILE many local car owners say they will buy a parking space if they can afford it, would-be-owners worry there will be no more spaces left if authorities legalize parking lot sales.

The city’s land resources and housing management bureau announced Tuesday that parking spaces in housing estates might be allowed to be sold, rent and mortgaged after being registered with the authorities and awarded a property ownership certificate.

As most housing estates do not build enough parking spaces to go with each apartment, many worry developers will speculate and sell them at sky-high prices.

Parking spaces can be sold to those living elsewhere and areas also need to be reserved for temporary parking, according to a draft regulation under consideration.

International common practice is to build parking lots in proportion to the number of vehicles. While a reasonable proportion is a parking space for every 1.2 cars, the proportion in Shenzhen is 1:3.3.

A Futian resident who only gave his surname as Wang keeps an office in Diwang Mansion. He had been looking forward to the new regulation for a long time. “The monthly parking fee in the car park underground Diwang rose from 780 yuan (US$101.29) to 1,050 yuan since the new charging criteria came into effect last September. For 10 years of the parking fee, you can buy a space, which may appreciate with time,” he said.

Another resident said he would buy more than one parking space in the housing estate where he lives if possible. “It’s new stuff. While housing prices and the stocks have risen quite a lot, parking lots could be a good thing to invest in. Whether it’s rent or bought, the returns will be good,” he said.

More than 1 million vehicles have so far been registered in Shenzhen, and the number will soon reach 2 million, given the fact that some 200 new cars are being sold daily.

Tags: shenzhen, sz, shenzhen+cars, china

STEPPING into Xibei Youmian Village, you can be forgiven for thinking you have just wandered into a village courtyard. With corn, red peppers and yellow pumpkins piled high between tables, the restaurant reminds diners of harvest time in a northwestern Chinese village.

As its name suggests, Xibei Youmian Village offers dishes based on youmian, a flour made from oats. Credited with improving both nutrition and beauty (oats are rich in vitamin E which is good for the skin), the northwest food is now available in dozens of Shenzhen restaurants serving northwestern-style dishes, and Xibei Youmian Village is one of the most popular.

With its headquarters in Beijing, Xibei Youmian Village came to Shenzhen in 2004 and opened its second restaurant at Xiangmihu (Honey Lake Resort) in Futian District two months ago.

Xibei Youmian Village serves a variety of youmian dishes, many served with different dipping sauces such as stir-fried tomato and spicy jam. The restaurant also serves an array of traditional northwestern dishes including barbecued mutton, mixed vegetables and mixed vermicelli served with different sauces.

The noodles and mutton dishes including youmian yuyu, a soup made of small-fish-shaped youmian and mutton, are recommended. The vegetable salad includes shacong (沙葱), a kind of wild shallot that grows in northwest sand.

Qi Liqiang, general manager of the Xiangmihu restaurant, says “simplicity” is the main principle of the food in Xibei Youmian Village. The chefs usually boil or stew the ingredients to keep their natural flavor, like they did back in their Northwest China hometowns.

On their first encounter, people used to the delicate food of South China may find the northwest dishes coarse. It takes some time to get used to a new style.

While the restaurant serves typical northwest food in its spacious main room, its VIP rooms offer some off-menu courses cooked by their private chefs in private kitchens.

Xibei Youmian Village offers both northwest food and the culture of northwest life. On one side of the entrance, an elderly woman demonstrates the traditional craft of kneading dough into animal shapes. On the other side of the entrance, chefs are busy making the dough as big pots of mutton, fish and all kinds of spices boil away.

Every evening from 6:40 to 7:10 p.m., Northwest Chinese singers perform on a stage resembling the cover of a well. Singers will also sing requests, which cost 25 yuan (US$3.16) for each song.

Xiangmihu store

Add: Inside Xiangmihu Resort (香蜜湖渡假村内)

Tel: 8345-9999

Hours: 10 a.m.- 2 p.m.

5:30-9 p.m.

Average price: about 50 yuan per person

Chinese language website of the restaurant chain

Metro: Xiang Mi Hu Station (Honey Lake Station 香蜜湖站), Exit B

Bagualing store:

Add: 1/F, No. 7 Building, Bagua Yilu Road, Futian District (八卦一路七栋首层1号)

Tel: 8243-9282, 8243-8875

Buses: 212, 302, 333, 320, 322, 357, 360, 361, 365, 375, 379

Tags: shenzhen, sz, chinese+food, restaurants

“So, are there prostitutes in Shenzhen?”
This newcomer’s question is bound to provoke laughter from long term residents. Sex is a major Shenzhen growth industry alongside building skyscrapers and making fake ipods.

You can learn a lot about the Shenzhen sex industry from reading between the lines of news reports.

For example, in the news organs, Futian District is the best at spewing out anti-vice statements of action:
- in November 2006 apparently over 3000 police were involved in anti- porno / brothel activities.
- 679 prostitutes were detained this year. (Most of them probably released with a slap on the arse.) Yes, that is pretty lame for 3000 police vs a city of hookers.
- in October the focus was to “crack down on prostitution in hair salons, foot massage parlors, and rented houses”. Tip if you are not sure whether the hair salon is real: look for scissors. If the only thing you can see are large moisuriser dispensers, you have been warned.
- the hundreds of “illegal entertainment places” reported as shut down probably means non-approved karaokes, if you needed another idea of where to get some SZxy action.

The details of the anti-prostitution raids confirm the following venues as top “evening action” hotspots:
- Shazui (of course)
- Shangsha
- Xiasha
- Shatou

Watch out for our next anti vice blog post, giving you the bus route numbers to the above locations, so you, er, know to avoid them.