I’ve said it before and now doubt will continue to repeat myself in subsequent posts: the speed at which Shenzhen is re-creating itself makes it difficult to re-member what the city has been. Not just Boom! a city appears, but Boom! all gone. These images of Shuiwan and Wanxia villages should be looked at along with yesterday’s impressions of the reclaimed land behind Seaworld and Shekou’s new coastline. The main part of this walk is along Shekou Old Street and Wanxia Road, thoroughfares that once upon a time ran parallel to the old coastline. The remains of that old times development (and yes we’re talking early 1980s) is small scale commercial fishing, unlike the marina and yachts that have been established along the new coastline.
Tag Archives: shenzhen identity
gangxia: walking the remaining village
Walked through the remaining section of Gangxia and noticed the strong contrasts of a sunny day: bright and dark, sun and shadows smack in the middle of Shenzhen’s Central axis. Check it out:
sfsz: chimerica’s creative axis
Shenzhen is gearing up for the Maker Faire, and clearly there’s a bit more than hype in the mix. Seems all sorts of folks are interested in connecting to larger markets via “the Silicon Valley of hardware” — Shenzhen. Of note du jour: the Hax Accelerator Program:
How It Works: Selected teams relocate to our offices in Shenzhen, China for 111 days, where they’ll finalize prototypes and learn to scale their businesses with the help of our awesome full-time staff and extensive mentor network.
Each week, you’ll meet with advisors who will offer feedback on your team’s evolving strategy and prototypes, as well as provide valuable insight about how to scale a company in terms of manufacturing, supply chain management and distribution.
The final 2 weeks of the program will be spent refining your pitch, in preparation for our demo day showcase and launch event in San Francisco. Then it’s time to get some press, meet with investors, and (optionally) kick off a killer crowdfunding campaign!
houhai / xuefu rd
Today, I went to the Software Incubator Area and what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a landmark tried and true and watched for the past decade. It’s true and unexpected, but for years I have been documenting the land reclamation area east of Guimiao and north of Binhai (first impressions, here), and today on an errand to meet someone about the upcoming Maker Faire, I realized the road I was on–Xuefu Road–was in fact the road I had walked while documenting the emergence of New High Technology Park. Anyway, some before and after pictures:
handshake with the future: shenzhen’s maker plus culture
The world has glommed on to Shenzhen’s Maker culture, but what is often left undetected is just how Maker Plus the city actually is. Yesterday afternoon at Handshake 302, we held the opening for projects by interior design students from the Guangdong Xin’an Polytechnic College. During the opening, the conversation about their work focused on bridging the distance between design and implementation. A key thought came from Lei Sheng, Handshake 302’s master craftsman (seriously, he can make anything): in an information age, information isn’t the most important element for creativity. Instead, the knowledge of making things with our hands–craftsmanship–is the key to a successful design career.
of migrants and immigrants, shenzheners and locals: some definitions
Talking about migrant workers in China (and throughout the world’s booming mega-cities) usually means “rural to urban migration”. However, this is not the case in Shenzhen, where “urban to urban immigration” has been as fundamental to the city’s success and growth. Indeed, the diversity of Shenzhen’s migrant population complicates easy understanding of what it means to be a Shenzhener, let alone academic debates about urban belonging and ideologies of exclusion. Continue reading
handshake 302: victory lap!
Yesterday, Handshake 302 won the first annual Shenzhen Creative Design Award in the category of creative synthesis. The other five categories included: architecture/space; product development; fashion; visual communication, and; interactive design. The awards recognized social design as an important element of design in general. The overall winners for “special contribution” included the Shenzhen based Ancient Village Network that provides technical and other support for village preservation and the OCT market, which provides young designers and artists a rent-free stalls to sell their products on weekends. Continue reading
opening ceremony of the first annual dalang graffiti culture festival
So. Today, Handshake 302 extended its reach and joined hands with the Dalang Street Office to curate the first annual Dalang Graffiti Culture Festival. It rained, so not much painting happened. Nevertheless, we had a great time with balloons, handprints, and a short “WeChat” play. I made the emoji box masks!
Impressions of event, below.
pointless inc at 302!
On Friday, May 7, the performance artist 坚果兄弟 (nut brothers) spoke at Handshake 302 about his recent piece, “30 Occupations”. 坚果兄弟 specializes in extended performances of absurd situations. He especially enjoys (and yes, the word is “enjoys”) creating pieces that blur the boundaries between art and everyday and thus highlight the delicate balance required to maintain plausible fictions such as “work is meaningful” or “art is special”. Thus, he tends to work with none artists in everyday spaces, where the “audience” that gathers may or may not realize it is a performance piece. Continue reading
geek experiences of shenzhen’s creative ecology
Dangerous Prototypes has blogged about their experiences in Shenzhen, including introductions to foreign hackers, their work with (now nationally renown) Seeed Studios, and geek tours. Worth browsing.
Shenzhen Noted 