Mention the words software and Shenzhen in the same breath and you may want to glance over your shoulder to see if an agent of the Business Software Alliance - the organisation which polices the industry against copyright breaches - is watching.
It is true, of course, that China in general, and Shenzhen in particular, tend to get a bad press when it comes to computer software. It is also true that there is a thriving business in China for pirating software.
One of the ways in which this piracy could be overcome, according to experts including senior executives at Microsoft, is for the Chinese to create their own software industry so that both government and industry would want to protect it.
There is nothing wrong with this view and I am certain that many people would support it.
So on a recent trip to Shenzhen I tried to found out what kind of programmers there were and what work they are doing, to see whether the industry across the border could one day be worth protecting.
Adam Graphics is a Shenzhen-based software house that specialises in high-end graphics solutions to real-life problems. A few years ago the founder, Peter Li Yi , was trying to put together a database of all the buildings, streets and major landmarks in Shenzhen.