LIANTANG Checkpoint in Luohu District recently has passed its review and test and will be put into service soon. The operation of the new border checkpoint, the seventh land port of Shenzhen, will further promote the connectivity of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Shenzhen now has 14 Class-1 land, air, railway and waterway ports. The six land ports are Luohu, Wenjindu, Huanggang, Shatoujiao, Shenzhen Bay and Futian checkpoints. These ports not only play a critical role in China’s imports and exports, but also enhance the communications between Shenzhen and Hong Kong residents and make their lives more convenient.

Luohu and Wenjindu checkpoints were the oldest ports in Shenzhen. In 1914, a branch of the former Qing Dynasty’s Hong Kong-based Imperial Maritime Customs was set up in Bao’an County (modern Shenzhen). After the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, the Luohu border checkpoint was launched, becoming the Chinese mainland’s “south gate.”

In the past 40 years of reform and opening up, more comprehensive checkpoints for passengers and cargos have been built. Huanggang Checkpoint was the first in China to implement a 24-hour border crossing in 2003. Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint is the first in China to operate in the mode of “two inspections in one place.”(Cao Zhen)