Shenzhen sheds 'cultural desert' tag as creative sector booms

Shenzhen, long dismissed as a "cultural desert" built for manufacturing, has remade itself around reading, volunteering and the arts, a senior academic said on Friday at the Asia-Pacific Media Forum Shenzhen Sub-forum.

Chao Naipeng, vice president of Shenzhen University, speaks at the Asia-Pacific Media Forum Shenzhen Sub-forum in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Sept. 4, 2026. [Photo/China.org.cn]

"Many people think of Shenzhen as a 'city of miracles' — one floor of a high-rise going up every three days, a surging wave of entrepreneurship and a rapid pace of technological innovation," said Chao Naipeng, vice president of Shenzhen University and a professor at the university's School of Media and Communication. "But for a long time, the label of 'cultural desert' was attached to this otherwise dynamic land."

The city has since become a "cultural oasis," driven by what he called five cultural codes: artistic excellence, a reading culture, civilizational values, industrial strength and international communication, Cao said Friday at a Shenzhen sub-forum of the Asia-Pacific Media Forum. The event brought together more than 100 Chinese and international guests to discuss "The Shenzhen Story of Chinese Modernization."

"Today's Shenzhen has forged a distinctive path of cultural development, where the economy and culture empower each other, tradition and modernity blend and coexist, and local growth and global outreach move toward each other," Chao said.

On the artistic front, "Wing Chun," a dance drama by the Shenzhen Opera and Dance Theater, has toured nearly 60 cities worldwide with more than 300 performances and about 460,000 attendees. Two Shenzhen-produced films, "Dear You" and "Kung Fu Soccer," have each grossed more than 2 billion yuan ($300 million) globally. The city has also built major cultural infrastructure, including the Shenzhen Opera House and the Shenzhen Natural History Museum.

Shenzhen has long championed reading as a pillar of cultural life, Chao said. In 2003, it became the first Chinese city to adopt a "culture-oriented" development strategy, focusing on building a "city of libraries." Today the city has 1,227 library service points and seven large book malls, with collections exceeding 68 million volumes. UNESCO named the city a "Global Model City of Reading" in 2013.

"A city that loves reading is a city full of hope and creativity," Chao said. "Shenzhen proves that a young city can also have a deep cultural foundation, and that a city of miracles needs the nourishment of a literary culture."

Shenzhen is also China's first "City of Volunteers," with more than 4.2 million registered volunteers, about one in every five residents, Chao said. The city has been named a National Civilized City seven times.

On the industrial side, Shenzhen was home to more than 3,900 cultural enterprises above designated size in 2025. Their combined revenue exceeded 1.5 trillion yuan, up 16.6% from a year earlier, and accounted for nearly 10% of the national total for such firms. The city hosts companies such as Tencent and Fantawild, and its game industry accounts for half of national gaming revenue, producing hits such as "Honor of Kings." More than 200,000 Shenzhen designers have won international awards.

The city also stages major cultural events, including the China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair.

The city, long a showcase for China's reform and opening up, has made overseas outreach a priority, Chao said. Local media have expanded their overseas presence. The multilingual portal Amazing Shenzhen has more than 2.8 million followers worldwide, and its international search volume ranks among the top three in China.

Shenzhen has also launched the "Shenzhen Stories" Initiative for Global City Civilizations Exchange, which tells the city's story through urban development, technology and green ecology, holds dialogues with world-renowned cities and presents China through the eyes of international visitors, strengthening the city's global reputation.

The opening ceremony of the 26th Shenzhen Reading Month takes place at the Starry Sky Garden at the Eyes of the GBA in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Nov. 2, 2025. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

"Shenzhen, with growing confidence, is contributing its unique 'Shenzhen strength' to the influence and appeal of Chinese civilization," Chao said. "From a 'cultural desert' to a cultural oasis, from a 'culture-oriented' city to a 'model of urban civilization,' Shenzhen has answered, through more than 40 years of practice, the question of the times: how an economically advanced city can achieve a cultural rise."

Looking ahead, Chao said that under the blueprint for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the pilot demonstration area, Shenzhen will continue to "inspire cultural confidence in the new era, let the spark of culture illuminate every soul that dreams, and truly become a world-renowned model of urban civilization."