Shennan Thoroughfare

This article was originally published on January 7, 2011, in the Shenzhen Daily.
The information was accurate at that time, and may be outdated now. Use with caution.

Shennan running west toward the bay, with the hex-shaped Saige Tower standing tall.
(All views from the "Meridian View Deck" in the Diwang Building.)

In 2004, Shenzhen chose its "Eight Scenic Spots" with the help of a team of experts and the votes of over a million citizens.

I've written about four of these already: Dapeng Fortress, Lotus Hill Park, Overseas Chinese Town, and the Meisha beaches. Wutong and Yangtai Mountains are actually a bit beyond my skill-set. (Maybe I'll take up mountain-climbing in the future.). And Zhongying Street is not accessible to foreigners, to the best of my knowledge.

That leaves only one. Hollywood has its Sunset Boulevard, New York its Broadway, and Paris its Champs Elysees. Add a new kid to the great streets of the world: our very own Shennan Thoroughfare.

Looking east on Shennan, with Wutong Mountain in the top left and the "Golden Business Center" in mid-range.

Running 28 kilometers through the three most central districts, Shennan is lined with landmark buildings, verdant parks, and the "Big Three" theme parks. It  connects the Gathering of Heroes and nearby Xin'an Ancient City in the west, to Curio World in the east.

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (bottom left) is just west of the Diwang Building. Lizhi Park is in the top right.

Elsewhere you'll find the Citizens' Center (where the new history museum is located), the "ancient art" museum, the museums and monorail of OCT and the Yuan Bo Yuan gardens (subject of my first column in December 2009). Lizhi Park is there, as is the Saige Tower, and the Diwang Building with its view deck--the [formerly] two tallest buildings in the city. [Since the construction of the KK Building, they are now number 3 and 2, respectively.]

Looking east again; the horse-shoe bridge is on the south side of the Dongmen area, and Renmin Lu.

In fact, in the one-year-plus that I've been writing this column, fully forty percent of the places I've covered lie along the length of Shennan. And I haven't even mentioned Central Park, Huaqiang Bei, Citic Plaza, Mix City, the Grand Theater, the Stock Exchange, the golf courses, the restaurants…

Take a drive and take a look. You can't miss it.

Note: I won't try to give you GPS or map information for the street. But if you follow some of the links in the article, you'll find lots of sights along the way!