The Qianhai Question

Last month, we spent a fun weekend with friends just across the border, in Shenzhen. We stayed at the Jen by Shangri-La, in the newly built block of apartments, offices, and parks in Qianhai. We mostly spent our time in an excellent shopping mall that kept our families busy for the weekend. Yes, we spent our weekend in a shopping mall. Judge me all you want, but when you have kids, a mall with three different hot pot options, “pink sand,” and a cat café is basically paradise with air conditioning.

This brand-new, fresh-smelling area, known as the Qianhai Kerry Centre, appears almost complete, with some buildings still awaiting their grand opening like debutantes at a ball. However, the playgrounds, parks, hotels, restaurants, and other facilities are already open to the public.

I live in Hong Kong, one of the most impressive metropolises in the world, but I was awestruck – mouth agape like a village person seeing a city for the first time – walking around this brand-new district in Shenzhen. This experience echoes what I’ve felt returning to Mainland China after a long Covid break, first seeing the new district near our office that emerged during my three-year absence, like some sort of urban magic trick.

So on this Qianhai weekend, I managed to escape for a photo walk all by myself, which I deeply appreciated. I do love my kids and their chaotic duo routine, but I needed a break to enjoy them even more in their absence – I hope you’re not here for parenting advice, right?

Walking around this new neighborhood, marveling at the fine gardening work performed by an army of park maintenance personnel, and admiring the tastefully clean architectural lines, I thought, “This is one of the most idyllic places I’ve been. I’d love to exist in an environment like this. Also, where the hell is a coffee shop?” And immediately, taking a wide circle around and carefully averting my eyes from the Starbucks nearby – because even in this architectural wonderland, terrible coffee finds a way – I found a cute little coffee shop. The oat latte was delicious, and I was genuinely excited by the pairing of a lotus root-filled pretzel with coffee, which sounds weird but works brilliantly.

You must see and experience the almost magical capability of China to build infrastructure at such scale with such speed. This marvelous feat is genuinely one of the world’s wonders, like the pyramids, but with better commute options.

Given my business function in the region, I’m very aware of the other side of this shiny coin. Most of this construction isn’t driven by actual demand; it’s building for the sake of building. According to Reuters, even before this new area came online, there was already a massive surplus of unused commercial property in the Qianhai district. I did see an almost post-apocalyptic level of emptiness across the sub-district, albeit a happy, sunny post-apocalypse that I wouldn’t mind living in. Think “28 Days Later” but with excellent landscaping and functioning elevators.

Property development companies are at the root of an impending economic crisis, even if we ignore the other horsemen of the apocalypse: collapsing global trade and severe population decline that leaves tens of millions—or even billions—of homes empty across China. Let’s put that existential dread aside for now, though.

Having walked around and experienced what’s possible on such a large scale, I hope that a strong, clear-thinking China can overcome its challenges. Qianhai and this new neighborhood, along with the many similar developments across China, deserve a happy ending with well-dressed residents and business visitors sipping excellent coffee. This new green, elegant, walkable neighborhood already has a large bus station and a metro stop at launch, for God’s sake! It’s like urban planning porn come to life. No geopolitical or economic crises should spoil something this awesome.

Actually, make that three main threats: geopolitical cold war, global financial crash, and these damn sand flies swarming around the new park. We have them in Hong Kong too. They bite like crazy, and I’m allergic to them; it takes weeks to heal. Hmm, with the addition of insect threats, this does sound more and more like an apocalypse scenario!

#urbanplanning #existentialdread #oatlatte