JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018GETTY IMAGESFrom factory floor to innovation hub,
Shenzhen’s exponential growth continuesWORDS TAMSIN COCKS
PUSHING
BOUNDARIES
mid the soaring glass towers and modern
buildings of Shenzhen’s Futian CBD is a rare
pocket of idiosyncratic low-rise buildings. The
ramshackle structures of Gangxia village are
colloquially known as “handshake buildings”
after their densely packed formation, meaning
neighbours could literally shake hands through
the windows.
Crammed full of tiny apartments, independent
shops, food stalls and more, the “urban village” is
bustling with life and atmosphere, providing affordable
accommodation for the massive inf lux of migrants and
low-income workers, a melting pot of street food cuisine
from Hunan to Sichuan and shops catering to every
possible need and want.
This charismatic settlement is one of the last of its
kind, a symptom of the rapid changes that have seen
Shenzhen turn from a collection of traditional fishing
villages with some 30,000 inhabitants to a metropolis of
ten million people in less than 40 years.
However, Ganxia’s days are numbered. Occupying
prime space in the heart of Shenzhen, it won’t be long
before the burgeoning city absorbs this urban village
as it has many others. Happily for the owners of these
dilapidated constructions, the payoff will be enough to
set them up for life, with property prices in Shenzhen
soaring to unheard-of figures.A
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