Liz in Shenzhen

I've been in Shenzhen about 17 or 18 times and the consensus of all, local and foreign alike, is that it is a city without a history. In a way that's true - like Shanghai, Shenzhen is what it is now because of trade with Hong Kong in the last 30 years. But in another way it's not true because people have been living in and around the area for a long time, just not in big cities. I had to work on the Friday we after we arrived in Shenzhen and Liz spent the day on the internet researching the city, and came up with a list of about 20 things to look at - from Neolithic villages to tombs of ancient kings. Stay tuned. There is a bit of southern pride reverberating through Guangdong, justifiably so since it was peripheral to the various Northern empires for substantial amounts of its history; not perhaps enough to call itself another country, but certainly enough to want to mark the distinctions between Han and Yue.



We haven't visited those sites though. We only really had time to stop off at Windows on the World. I'm cowering because the sun is in my eyes, not because a giant kangaroo eater is approaching the giant kangaroos.

I don't think I can describe Windows on the World. On the right behind me is the Parthenon. Behind that is the Eiffel Tower. The Golden Gate Bridge is being build across the road to my left front - the smaller kangaroo is looking at it. I think you can take it from there.