深圳

Shenzhen is often summed up by speed, technology and skyscrapers, but the fuller story also includes Ming Dynasty coastal defense, Cantonese and Hakka settlements, Oyster communities, population migration and special economic zone experiments. Understanding this city requires crossing different scales: starting with the physical history of reform and opening up, observing contemporary culture in design neighborhoods accessible by the subway, and then going to wetlands, geological landscapes and old villages.