Studying ShenZhen’s success

Sherry Zhang

Metro lines connect different times and spaces in Shenzhen, said Mary Ann O’Donnell, an American anthropologist who came to Shenzhen 20 years ago.

O’Donnell has been busy making a Metro wikipedia, which will be displayed in 63 stations on three Metro lines (Line 7, 9 and the future Line 11).

On a notebook, she drew a map of Shenzhen, illustrating different parts of Shenzhen, noting when they were built and what dialects were spoken in each part.

O’Donnell circled areas on the map. She circled an area encompassing part of Futian and a small part of Hong Kong, where early residents used to speak a dialect called Weitou. She also circled Nantou Market, where residents used to speak the Nantou dialect. And she circled Longgang, where Hakka people migrated to 400 years ago.

Although after reform and opening up, there was more communication between the areas, it is the Metro lines that actually link them, said O’Donnell.

Her understanding of the city’s history and culture is based on interviews with senior residents in urban villages.

She spoke with senior villagers in 15 urban villages in Futian District, which was reported by Futian Today in December. It is a genealogy project funded by the Futian history record office.

O’Donnell said it is not difficult to find senior villagers because of her outgoing personality and hard work. Usually a project like this will take one to two years.

O’Donnell said she had finished a book about Shenzhen after three years’ work as a co-author. The book is titled “Learning from Shenzhen.” It will be published by Chicago University Press in the next two years.

The book is about what Shenzhen’s urbanization means to the world, she said. O’Donnell attributes part of Shenzhen’s success to its unplanned urbanization.

O’Donnell said that the most lively parts of Shenzhen’s economy are not planned.

O’Donnell said that the unique spaces created by unplanned buildings promote creativity and fit day-to-day life in Shenzhen, versus planned areas that are sterile and unwelcoming.

She cited examples of urban villages, where there is a higher density of markets, shops and services. She said young people could only afford to rent places in urban villages if they want to start a business.

She took the example of Tianmian Village in Futian, which started to be urbanized in 1998. It is composed of three distinct housing compounds. They are Urban Oasis Garden, a luxury housing estate — Tianmian Garden, a middle-class geared housing estate, and Tianmian New Village, a handshake building area. She said Tianmian, equipped with different styles of stores, is able to accommodate different classes of people.

During the interview, O’Donnell said that those who live in Bao’an and Longgang districts still refer to Shenzhen as the city downtown, though the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone expanded to cover the two districts in 2010. She said sense of belonging comes from sense of security and also where one’s childhood is spent. It is also something that people take for granted.

O’Donnell received a Ph.D. degree in anthropology from Rice University in Texas in 1999 and later became a post doctorate scholar at Brown University. In 1995, she started to conduct anthropology research in Shenzhen.