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    PHARREL WILLIAMS’ 24-hour music video for “Happy” is still not enough. A group of locals and expats in Shenzhen are spreading happiness worldwide by dropping a Shenzhen version of Williams’ wildly popular hit single online last week.

    Proposed by French expat Thibaut Desmons and directed by Shenzhen Polytechnic lecturer Lily Fang, the four-minute music video, entitled “Happy Shenzhen,” shows more than 200 locals and expats dancing to the tune along Shenzhen landmarks, streets and beaches. In less than a week, the video has been viewed more than 20,000 times on Youku, YouTube and QQ websites.

    At the beginning of the video, Desmons arrives at Shenzhen International Airport and begins dancing spontaneously after hearing Fang’s voice says: “The Happy Flights from all around the world have arrived,” mimicking an airport announcer. The video then shows different people, from children to seniors, from professional dancers to passers-by, spinning and dancing around the city’s iconic places, including Sea World, KK Mall, Civic Center, Window of the World, Xichong Beach, Spring Cocoon, Baishizhou and Dongmen.

    The video reflects the feel-good vibe of Williams’ original video for “Happy,” which features snippets of people all over the world dancing. Williams’ video has been viewed millions of times on YouTube and has spawned hundreds of imitation and parody videos all over the world.

    In an interview with the Shenzhen Daily, Desmons said his idea of making a Shenzhen version came after watching a video featuring Sibiu, the hometown of his Romanian fiancée, Maria Macrea. “We watched different versions of ‘Happy’ shot in different cities, but we didn’t find one for Shenzhen,” said Desmons, an event planner and corporate trainer who has been in Shenzhen for five years.

    “Shenzhen is a big city, but is not as well-known as Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. We want to promote Shenzhen abroad, tell people, ‘this is where we lived’ and encourage people to come to Shenzhen,” said Macrea.

    Desmons explained his idea to friends in the nonprofit Shenzhen Film & Acting community, and Fang decided to make the video with seven of her Shenzhen Polytechnic students. The team then put forms online to recruit volunteer dancers, chose locations and produced the video in 20 days.

    Fang said before shooting her video, she had watched the Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macao versions and noticed the dancers in those videos were mainly expats, so she wanted the Shenzhen video to be a little different. “Among the 200 dancers in the Shenzhen video, Chinese are more than expats. I wanted to show Shenzhen not only as an international city, but also as a place with open-minded and tolerant locals,” said Fang.

    The video features many dance styles, including jazz, salsa, flamenco, ballet, hip-hop and traditional Chinese dances, but the choreography wasn’t planned; most happened spontaneously or randomly, Fang said. “I told the dancers to prepare whatever dance they loved. During the shoot, the dancers were very professional, brave and natural. Some passers-by simply joined in the dances without being asked. I could feel the positive energy of the city, which is what I wanted to convey in the video.”

    As a teacher of film production at Shenzhen Polytechnic for 11 years, Fang also showed off her cinematic techniques in shooting and scene changes to display a young, ever-changing, clean and dynamic Shenzhen.

    “The video begins at the airport, where passengers may arrive in Shenzhen for business, but then people discover there are many interesting places in the city. Meanwhile, the video also chronicles one day in Shenzhen, from morning to night,” said Fang.

    “If you live in Shenzhen, you should watch this video,” commented Kevin McGeary, an Irish expat who has been in Shenzhen for many years. “Unlike the Beijing and Hong Kong versions, the Shenzhen video contains all of the city’s signature spots.”

    “The video even records disappearing Baishizhou, my favorite part of Shenzhen,” said Chen Junyi, who dances in a backstreet lane, next to a shoe-repair vendor and in front of a hotpot restaurant in Shenzhen’s biggest urban village of Baishizhou.

    “Most outsiders think Shenzhen is just a city of factories, so we wanted to present a more accurate image of Shenzhen,” said Desmons, who can speak fluent Mandarin and has been to all of the local landmarks during his five-year stay.

    “Unlike London and its London Bridge or Paris and its Eiffel Tower, Shenzhen is a new city without many world-famous landmarks. But we wanted to show the world that Shenzhen has many small, beautiful places that are worth a visit,” said Macrea.

    Macrea also appears in the video, wearing a short white cheongsam, clapping and dancing in Dongmen. “About 100 passers-by were watching me when I danced and many took pictures of me, assuming we were film stars,” said Macrea. “As expats, Chinese people always notice us, so we are used to the attention.”

    Although the video features as many representative spots of Shenzhen as possible, Fang and Desmons regret that some places were not included. Fang hoped to shoot workers dancing along assembly lines, but was not able to make contact with Foxconn. Desmons wanted to include the Chinese-style square dance usually done by older women in residential areas, but couldn’t find any groups during filming.

    “The evening square dances are very Chinese and are not seen in other countries. Shenzhen is very modern, but at the same time, people keep their hometown lifestyles. Beijing and Shanghai have existed for so long that migrants typically have to adapt to the city lifestyle. It’s great Shenzhen has a mix of identities, where you can live in one place but get a glimpse of the whole of China,” said Desmons.