Baishizhou

Baishizhou

Baishizhou (Chinese: 白石洲; pinyin: Báishízhōu; Jyutping: baak6 sek6 zau1) is an area of Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. As of 2016^[update] about 150,000 people live in Baishizhou.^[1] With an area of 0.23 square miles (0.60 km²), it has the most inhabitants, as well as the highest building and population density, of any urban village within Shenzhen. Accounting for unregistered and undocumented residents, some estimates of Baishizhou's rental population are well above two hundred thousand. ^[2]

In 2014 Charlie Lanyon of The South China Morning Post described it as "one of the last vestiges of old Shenzhen".^[3]

History

Before the mass-migration to the Shenzhen SEZ, Baishizhou had been a destination of immigrants and refugees for centuries. Modern narratives of the village's origins often date the earliest settlement at Baishizhou to a Qing Dynasty habitat named Village of the Ten Thousand Families. ^[2] It is an amalgamation of five existing villages that became one circa 1958 after a collective farm opened.^[4] The Shenzhen government bought land around, but not within, the villages and redeveloped it.^[1]

In 2014, the Shenzhen government announced that it was going to demolish existing developments and redevelop Baishizhou,^[1] with another in 2019.^[5]

Culture

Lanyon noted the abundance of street food and stated that the cuisine was inexpensive and also "excellent".^[3]

Transportation

• Baishizhou Station, Shenzhen Metro

Education

Shenzhen Saturday School (深圳補習授業校 Shinsen Hoshū Jugyō Kō), a Japanese weekend school, has its office on the 8th floor of the Jinsanjiao Building (金三角大厦/金三角大廈) in Baishizhou.^[6]

See also

• Urban village (China)

References

1. Feng, Emily (2016-07-19). "Skyscrapers' Rise in China Marks the Fall of Immigrant Enclaves". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2016-08-20. Retrieved 2016-10-11. () - Official Chinese translation: "深圳城中村面临拆除，15万人将何去何从" and "深圳城中村面臨拆除，15萬人將何去何從"
2. Du, Juan (7 January 2020). The Shenzhen Experiment. Harvard University Press. pp. 269–280. ISBN 9780674975286.
3. Lanyon, Charlie (2014-05-22). "There's a lot more to our neighbour Shenzhen than cheap suits and massages". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
4. MacKinnon, Eli (2016-09-16). "The Twilight of Shenzhen's Great Urban Village". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
5. Yang, Qian (2019-10-28). "How Shenzhen's Urban Village Advocates Are Learning From Failure". Sixth Tone. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
6. "日本人学校・補習授業校一覧." Consulate-General of Japan in Guangzhou (在広州日本国総領事館/日本国驻广州总领事馆). Retrieved on December 21, 2017. "深セン日本人補習校 518052 広東省深セン市南山区白石洲金三角大廈８階"

Further reading

• Hu, Bailey; Gidge, Sky Thomas (2017-05-30). "Exploring Shenzhen's Urban Villages: Baishizhou, Hubei, Gangxia". that's.
• Huang, Meilun; Liang, Lingfei (2019-08-10). "Photo Essay: The End of Migrants' 'Shenzhen Dream'?". Caixin Global.
• McHugh, Fionnula (2020-02-16). "In Shenzhen, 'urban villages' like Baishizhou have been lost to the megacity myth". South China Morning Post.
• Verbeelen, Katherine (University of Amsterdam). "The Collaboration of Actors in Urban Village Redevelopment Projects in Shenzhen, China" (master's degree thesis). Posted at the New Town Institute.

22°32′12″N 113°57′48″E