Han Ximin

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U.S. anthropologist Mary Ann O’Donnell, who has been living in Shenzhen since 1995, said during a recent interview with Shenzhen News Group that the best way to understand China’s reform and opening up is to understand Shenzhen.

“Shenzhen is a city of innovation,” O’Donnell said. “One of its strengths is that it fosters curiosity and a willingness to explore new opportunities.”

She said talking with older residents of urban villages offers a unique insight into the city. On one project she spent six months recording life stories from seniors in 15 urban villages in Futian District.

In a previous interview with Shenzhen Daily, she described urban villages as integral to Shenzhen’s identity — living records of Shenzhen’s migrant history that render the city more diverse and distinctive.

O’Donnell co-edited “Learning From Shenzhen,” published by the University of Chicago Press in 2017. The book brings China studies into dialogue with urban studies, using Shenzhen as a lens to examine contemporary social transformation. Chapters consider how urban villages and informal institutions shaped outcomes in public health, labor, architecture, gender, politics, education and more, offering scholars and general readers an in-depth look at one of the world’s most dynamic cities.

An introduction to the book reads: “In recent decades, Shenzhen has transformed from an experimental site for economic reform into a dominant city at the crossroads of the global economy. The first of China’s special economic zones, Shenzhen is today a UNESCO City of Design and the hub of China’s emerging technology industries.”

O’Donnell said she helped compile the book to give Western audiences a clearer understanding of Shenzhen’s role in China’s reform and opening up and of the broader significance of those changes.