FROM infrastructure engineers in the early 1980s to construction workers coming to Shenzhen one generation after another, these are the people who contributed the most to the city’s development. Since 1979, 20,000 infrastructure engineers from the army have been dispatched here for the Special Economic Zone’s early construction. They transformed paths from rocks and hills into paved roads; they built the 50-story Shenzhen International Trade Building (China’s tallest building at that time) with a speed of one floor every three days; and they were the pioneers who turned Shenzhen from a fishing village into a bustling market town.

In the past 40 years, sports venues, subways, parks, shopping centers and residential buildings have sprung up, making the city more and more livable. Behind those visible achievements are the invisible efforts contributed by generations of construction workers. They are the most valuable contributors to our city.

(Cao Zhen)