SHENZHEN will grow into a mature international city by 2030, a leading city sociologist said yesterday.
In an exclusive interview with the Shenzhen Daily, Le Zheng, president of Shenzhen Academy of Social Sciences, said the provincial authorities'target of building Shenzhen into an international city with Chinese characteristics is "very practical."
"But it will take the city another 15 to 20 years before growing into a relatively mature international city. The city is still at a development stage," Le said.
The provincial Party congress set the target of making Shenzhen an international city with Chinese characteristics at its meeting last month.
An international city should be able to mobilize rich global resources, have obvious advantages in the economy, especially in services, and be located within a cluster of cities, said Le.
An international city should also retain its own culture, while adopting diversified cultures, he said.
With a long tradition of opening-up and diversified culture, Shenzhen will reach the target set by the provincial government, he said.
As early as the 1990s, the city government started to organize forums on building an international city, and in 1996 a municipal Party meeting set the target of building a modern international city, he recalled.
"The new target of building Shenzhen into an international city with Chinese characteristics is in line with the city's long-term strategy, but it has a richer content by stressing the Chinese characteristics," he said. Shenzhen's economy is closely related to the international market and 60 percent of Shenzhen's output value is realized in the global market, Le said.
However, the city still lags far behind other first-class international cities and has a lot to learn, said Le.
Shenzhen has active trade, advanced manufacturing and high-tech industries, but the service sector contributes 46.7 percent of the total GDP, while the number in Hong Kong and New York is about 90 percent, according to Le.
"Shenzhen faces huge tasks upgrading its industrial structure," he said.
Meanwhile, the international level of the service industry is not high, said Le. There are not many foreign white collar workers or multinational companies. The number of international air routes can hardly meet the standards of an international city, he said.
Le said Shenzhen and Hong Kong should cooperate to build an international metropolis. The Central Government should make building Shenzhen/Hong Kong into an international metropolis a national strategy, he said.
Le also said that Shenzhen should retain its social values and oriental culture. "The Shenzhen government has been working on that through various activities such as preserving its cultural heritage," he said.