After celebrating the 40thanniversary of its founding of a special economic zone on Aug 26, Shenzhen in Guangdong province, gained fresh wide attention through a prime-time program News Weekly on China Central Television on Aug 30.
In the program, Bai Yansong, a national household name as an anchor, recalled Shenzhen's remarkable development over the past 40 years, declaring it to be an epitome of China's high-speed development as well as its future potential.
Notably, Bai also focused on Luohu's progress in regard to promotion of spiritual civilization, which is embodied in its grassroots social governance, saying that as Luohu’s development indicates, the city's growth is not in the field of material wealth only, but also strongly reflects the cause of achieving spiritual civilization.
The following are the highlights of Bai's reporting on Shenzhen from Beijing.
It is known that Shenzhen is now one of the four first-tier cities in China— the other three being Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou — in terms of economic size; however, the advancement of the city's culture is probably unknown, Bai said.
Shenzhen is by no means a cultural desert, but a hot spot of cultural innovation and emerged of industries based on creative ideas..
Among every 1o residents in the city on average, there is one registered volunteer, while doing community work is still as a duty of property management companies, and is widely accepted as a regular practice of local residents.
Li Jianguo, former chair of the residents' committee of Wenhua in Luohu, said: "It is absolutely right for the government to turn a large auto parts market, which was the fifth largest in the country and was built on a public green land in 2000 in the neighborhood, into a public park. It is good for the people."
Li said it is the people's will that has prompted the government to undertake this task.
Lv Yi, secretary of the Party work committee of Dongmen sub-district office of Luohu, said: "Shenzhen set an example in encouraging residents to elect their committee so that the body they trust can serve as a platform for decision-making to meet their interests."
Lv said the committee members must follow a set of debating rules in the process of discussing on different options for making public policy.
Li said that, in this model, all different interest groups have their appeals heard by others, and an atmosphere of compromise and inclusiveness is gradually formed.
Luohu promoted the Wenhua community's experience in other communities through actively engaging the people in attending trainings on first aid skills in the hope that through the initiative every family can have at least one member with knowledge of certain important skills. Now, there are 28 automated external defibrillators under the jurisdiction of the Dongmen sub-district office, according to Lv.
Lv said that Shenzhen's faith in market laws is not only its wealth but also its soul in improving community governance.
He said that's why Shenzhen gives its citizens rights to make a choice and encourage competitions in the sector of public service, as more and more professional social organizations and agencies are engaged in grassroots governance.
As of the end of June, Shenzhen had more than 10,000 registered social organizations, and the municipal government has vowed to let the residents' committees and social organizations play an even more important role in the future.
Li Jianguo said the tolerance of mistakes, and the pioneering spirit of a trailblazer had been the core of the Shenzhen spirit over the past 40 years, and now the spirit should be carried on by the new generation.
Shenzhen is the first major cities in China that has seen a growth of its economy amid the percussions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a core city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and a pilot demonstration zone of the socialism with Chinese characteristics, it has enough reasons and potential to continue to its wonders in the future.
