For those curious about Shenzhen’s shifting terrain, please check out excavating the future in shenzhen. This essay tracks the changing location of “Shenzhen” within and against the city’s vernacular geography as well as competing versions of “Shenzhen” which continue to invigorate (or vex, depending on perspective and intention) its urban plans. This essay is chapter 21 in Urban Asias: Essays on Futurity Past and Present, edited by Tim Bunnell and Daniel P. S. Goh.