Previously a small fishing village with a population of just 30,000, Shenzhen was named a special economic zone in 1980 as part of the country's reform and opening-up policy, which was initiated by former leader Deng Xiaoping.

Since then, the city has achieved a number of national "firsts", providing a role model for other cities in their ongoing development. For example, the first auction for State-owned land since the founding of the People's Republic of China was held in Shenzhen in December 1987, marking a significant reform of the country's land-use system.

In December 1990, trading on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange officially began, which has played an important role in the country's rapid capital market development over the following three decades.

Reform and opening-up is a key policy that continues to determine contemporary China's fate and future, and the objective of piloting the policy in Shenzhen was to seek happiness for its people, says Guo Wanda, executive vice-president of Shenzhen-based think tank China Development Institute.

The remarkable things Shenzhen has achieved in the process has brought the confidence and experience for other places to realize faster growth, he says.

According to official figures, Shenzhen's gross domestic product grew from less than 200 million yuan ($31.4 million) in 1979 to more than 2.7 trillion yuan last year, the fifth largest among Asian cities.

It ranked the second among all Chinese cities in comprehensive economic competitiveness for 2021, just behind Shanghai, according to a recent ranking by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.