China Expat is a cultural and literary forum for expatriates interested in China and has been published by Asia Briefing Ltd since 2001. The sites resident China culture writers have included such expatriate luminaries as 
Living in Shenzhen
It’s kind of like being the baddest boy on the block, but living next to Godzilla. A massive, bustling, international city, Shenzhen is smack dab next to the world’s premiere metropolis, Hong Kong. If in similar proximity, Beijing and Shanghai would also lose much by comparison.
Of course, there’s more to a city than financial centers and property values. For those of us who like a little soul in our cities, we got Shenzhen. At least the Lonely Writers do, and to follow up Shopping in Shenzhen, a comprehensive guide to plumbing the city for bargains, they’ve given us Living in Shenzhen, a 256 page mini-tome that proves Shenzhen has arrived.
Rather than “guidebook”, Editor in Chief Adriano Lucchese calls Living in Shenzhen a “lifebook”. That means not just well-laid out, comprehensive info, but also what he calls “the beauty and drama of this ever-changing megacity”. So readers get a lot of nice touches to what is already a clean, user-friendly, meaty guidebook. For example, 12-year old Lin Yunlu gives us a two-page essay on celebrating New Year’s, an authentic Chinese story that follows an exposition on the Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar.
Living in Shenzhen pays extra attention to kids actually, anticipating the biggest worries of expats: making the move to what many erroneously consider a remote outpost. Not just education listings, but also a 17-page section on kids’ activities, from skate parks to youth sports programs, show concerned expat parents that weekends in Shenzhen can consist of more than desultory DVD watching. Six pages on getting your pets registered and cared for in Guangzhou means this lifebook is looking out for all your drooling dependents.
Let’s see, what else do parochial westerners fear about a new life in China? Right, health care. Living in Shenzhen lists sixteen international – standard hospitals and dental clinics, plenty for moneyed foreigners to choose from, if not for all of the city’s 17 million residents. There’s even a section on traditional Chinese medicine, for those with the courage to trust nature over Big Pharma.
With health and hearth attended to, an enterprising expat’s priorities run to money. This is where Living in Shenzhen shines through. No less than 24 pages of articles provide a micro-MBA in getting your business venture up and running. Legal entities, taxes, operations and other bugbears haunting the golden dreams of expat entrepreneurs are shooed away with expert advice from foreign heavy-hitters who have already knocked it out of the park in Shenzhen. Twenty pages of chambers and associations listings bring networkers within two degrees of separation from just about anyone they need to know in Deep Drains (That’s what ‘Shenzhen’ means. You’ll know after you read the book.)
Attention to detail proves that Living in Shenzhen is a labor of love, rather than a magazine sideline. The University of Shenzhen listing gives an extra number for one Ms Liao Wensui , for those needing info in English. The shopping map not only has pinpoint locations, but those locations are blown up to show which mall has the IKEA and which the B&Q. The Shekou Wet Market, a paradise of fresh produce and authentic South China flavor, gets its own map layout, along with a food vocab list, including Mandarin characters to show stall vendors tired of your pantomime and bad pronunciation.
Nightlife, restaurants, transportation? Check, check , and triple-check, all given full shrift in concise format. An A-Z section covers all that miscellany that suddenly becomes vital once you’ve settled in. Tips on buying cheese, plus-size fashions, golf equipment, and, yes hipsters, organic food, are laid out for all those foreigners dragged kicking and screaming into their China experience. A read through Living in Shenzhen just might make you one of the growing hoard who decide to stop and stay for a while, instead of jumping right over to that little island next door.
Buy Living In Shenzhen here
Related posts:
- Shopping in Shenzhen
- Living in China, Feeling at Home
- Book Review: The Importance of Living
- South China Business Events for June and July
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Hello,
Could you let me know where this book is available?
Thanks!
You can buy it online at http://www.lonelywriters.com/
Congratulations for living in Shenzhen book, it really provides a wealth of useful info for moving and living in Shenzen and having an idea what to find there and what not
Shenzhen has shorelines in its southwest and southeast and the city is home to some of the most popular and best beaches in China.
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Could you let me know where this book is available?
Thanks!
Six pages on getting your pets registered and cared for in Guangzhou means this lifebook is looking out for all your drooling dependents.
really provides a wealth of useful info for moving and living in Shenzen and having an idea what to find there and what not.
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Is medical malpractice much of a concern in China? pittsburgh malpractice lawyer
This truly provided a great wealth of useful info for moving and living in Shenzen and having an idea what you can expect to find there. Thanks! outdoor grills
Shenzhen is situated in the subtropical part of China, located at about the Tropic of Cancer. The weather is generally temperate and mild in the autumn; winters are mild as the South China Sea buffers its climate, so cold snaps are not common. In the spring Shenzhen is relatively dry, and then it has a hot and wet summer, occasionally hit by typhoons from the east, but the temperature rarely reaches over 35 degrees Celsius.
Over to you, Gold 58, with sports updates.
The weather is generally temperate and mild in the autumn; winters are mild as the South China Sea buffers its climate, so cold snaps are not common.
Shenzhen sounds like a very interesting place to live. I'm intrigued by your descriptions.
I would be really grateful for some advice. My husband will be based in Shenzhen but I would like to work in HK as I am a teacher.
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This article truly provides an abundance of useful info for moving and living in Shenzen, including information on what to expect.
The weather is generally temperate and mild in the autumn; winters are mild as the South China Sea buffers its climate, so cold snaps are not common.
If you never went to a place, all the information about this city come from internet, books and those who tell you. Hope I could get more about Shenzhen by reading this book. Neverthless, this book sounds good.
thats a kind of book that deserve to buy it but i dont know how to get it in Egypt here
Shen Zhen is overtaking Guang Zhou in many aspects. Such as attracting Chinese and Hong Kong businessmen as a much convenient transition point.
Living in Shen Zhen is as colourful as living in Seattle.
I really want to visit Shenzhen, and of course its neighbor Hong Kong and Macau. Guess buying the book would make up my Shenzhen visit for now.
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This article truly provides an abundance of useful info for moving and living in Shenzen, including information on what to expect.
Chinese law and American law have their differences but do see eye to eye especially in terms of the injured. See: http://www.bepress.com/gj/vol10/iss2/art5/
The book “Living Abroad in China: Including Hong Kong and Macau” also has a good section about living in Shenzhen, as well as info on other areas in the PRD. You can get it on Amazon for just a few bucks and it has lots of photos, etc. Very helpful.