Shenzhen marked the 30th anniversary of its special economic zone yesterday amid much fanfare with President Hu Jintao hailing the boomtown as 'a miracle' and pledging to continue to give full support to its development.
In his first visit to the city in seven years, Hu also told several hundred mainland and foreign tycoons and Communist Party cadres at an official ceremony in the morning that the city had 'contributed significantly to China's opening and reform'.
While China's special economic zones have long been questioned for losing their lustre 30 years after their establishment, Hu reiterated that the zones would not be abandoned.
'The Shenzhen special economic zone created a miracle in the world's history of industrialisation, urbanisation and modernisation and has contributed significantly to China's opening up and reform,' Hu said.
'The central government will, as always, support the brave experiments of the special economic zones as well as in their role of testing and carrying out reforms ahead of other regions,' he added.
Hu pledged more central endorsement of Shenzhen's future economic reforms, and his remark focused on the city's future economic development rather than political reforms, as Premier Wen Jiabao had stressed in his visit last month.
Commentators said the one-hour ceremony was more an observance of the special economic zone's achievements. Three Shenzhen-based mainland company executives and Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing, gave speeches about the tremendous changes in the economic arena. That suggested authorities do not want to commit to future political reforms, even though Wen told party cadres that they must continue to liberate their thinking and make bold moves to achieve democracy.