The Pearl River City is the conjoined contiguous city, now considered the world's largest (pop 42 million). Hong Kong is not included as it has a border and isn't contiguous, separated by a stretch of paddy fields.
The Pearl River Delta is the metro region (55-78 million depending on where you stop counting). It's increasingly known as the Greater Bay Area in the similarity it has to San Francisco (Shenzhen is the Silicon Valley of China).
What's most interesting about Shenzhen is its 'urban villages', the semi-legal midrises built in the 90s, aka handshake houses where blocks are so close together neighbours can do that. Across China these urban villages have been demolished in the world's biggest demolition drive in history, and replaced by the swanky skylines so pictured.
Shenzhen with so little history is the only city saving them. They're famed for their streetlife (very Chinese) and community, and the council has asked each district to doll itself up, attract footfall and hired architects to rebrand - the kind that wards off gentrification/ displacement and preserves the structures and community:
https://www.on-curating.org/files/oc...UABB_after.jpg
There are a whole slew of interesting things being added, and community projects going on - the kind of China one expects rather than moneyed, spotless versions where everyone's addicted to screens. It's the messy, grubby, chaotic version the country has tried so hard to eradicate - yet so atmospheric and alive.
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/c...M5DZQ1AY/2.jpg
Basically the kind of Chinese streetlife that's increasingly rare outside Hong Kong any more. Catch it before China sanitises it all away like everywhere else.
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