Basic information

Bao'an District dates back to Bao'an County, which was set up during the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420), and enjoys a history of 1,690 years. It's reputed as the cultural root of Shenzhen and Hong Kong. In 1979, Bao'an County was upgraded as a city. In December 1982, Bao'an County was again set up to administer the original Bao'an County that was outside the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. In 1992, Bao'an County was redefined as two districts, namely Bao'an District and Longgang District. Later, two new additional areas were created from Bao'an District, namely Guangming and Longhua, in 2007 and 2011 respectively.

Currently, Bao'an District has 10 subdistricts including Xin'an, Xixiang, Hangcheng, Fuyong, Fuhai, Shajing, Xinqiao, Songgang, Yanluo and Shiyan, with a total of 124 communities. It manages a total population of 5.6 million. Its household registered population reaches 811,000.

Geographical location

Located in northwest Shenzhen, Bao'an lies in the geographical center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It's at the intersection of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong north-south development axis and the Shenzhen-Zhongshan east-west development axis. As a district strong in industrial development, Bao'an District always gives top priority to the development of real economy.

The district covers a territory of 397 square kilometers, occupying 19.9 percent of Shenzhen. It has a 45-kilometer coastline and a marine area of 220 square kilometers, accounting for 17.3 percent and 10.9 percent of that of the city respectively.

Bao'an is also a transportation hub of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, connecting with the world by air, land and sea. It is home to major transportation infrastructures including an international airport, Dachanwan Bay, National Highway 107 and Bao'an Boulevard. Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport is the first modern international airport in China to establish joint sea, rail, and air transportation, with an annual passenger flow of more than 52 million. Dachanwan Bay has 16 international routes with an annual throughput of 1.28 million TEUs.

Five expressways, namely Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport Expressway, Guangzhou-Shenzhen Coastal Expressway, Nanshan-Guangming Expressway and Longhua-Dalingshan Expressway pass through the district. Shenzhen Metro lines 1, 5, 6, 11, 12 and 20 cross the district and construction of line 13 is underway.

The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge, Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-speed Railway, Shenzhen-Maoming Railway and Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen intercity rail line are undergoing planning and construction.

Economic development

Bao'an District is important to Shenzhen, thanks to its strong economy, industries and exports. This district has a strong export-oriented economy, forming an industrial structure led by strategic emerging industries including the electronic information industry, and is further supported by equipment manufacturing industries as well as by traditional advantageous industries.

In 2022, the regional GDP of Bao'an District reached 470.2 billion yuan, up 3.5% year on year. The added value of industrial enterprises above designated size reached 214.55 billion yuan, up 4.3% year on year, reaching a record high in total volume. The added value of strategic emerging industries increased by 15.1%, up to 46.1% in the share of GDP.

The annual investment in fixed assets reached 170.8 billion yuan, exceeding the target. The total retail sales of consumer goods reached 143.2 billion yuan, with an increase of 3.1%. Foreign trade value totaled 509.8 billion yuan, up 5.1%.

The number of national high-tech enterprises reached 7,061, ranking first among the country's districts and counties for six consecutive years. The number of industrial enterprises with an output value of more than 10 billion yuan has increased from seven in 2021 to 12. There are 10 service enterprises with revenue (sales) exceeding 10 billion yuan, three enterprises with more than 30 billion yuan, and one enterprise with more than 70 billion yuan. At the 2022 Shenzhen Global Investment Promotion Conference, Bao'an signed 33 projects with a total investment of about 100.4 billion yuan.

By the end of 2020, there were 847,000 businesses registered in Bao'an, of which 73,000 were manufacturing enterprises with a total of 2.57 million industrial workers, accounting for one-fifth of the city's total.

Social development

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Bao'an District embraced strong development, and people's well-being continued to improve. The expenditure in nine categories relating to people's livelihood exceeded 33.38 billion yuan and for years has ranked as No.1 in Shenzhen.

In education, the district made new advancements. A total of 29 primary and secondary schools and kindergartens were opened. Some 7,800 public high school seats, 29,200 public nine-year compulsory education seats, and 5,820 public preschool education seats were added. Five new public education groups were added, covering 10 subdistricts, and four education and teaching achievements won provincial awards.

Bao'an is home to three medical groups, four tertiary hospitals, and the only authentic TCM therapy hospital in the country. The renovation and expansion of eight public hospitals is well underway. Sixteen community healthcare institutions have been added. The number of community health service centers ranked first in the country.

The district made breakthroughs in cultural industries. In the third quarter of 2022, the public civilization index ranked first in the city and achieved a record high. The upgrading of three cultural facilities (old library, cultural center and theater) was completed and are now open to the public. The district has seen more prosperous cultural development, ranking first in the city's public cultural service evaluation.

Bao'an District serves as a national model for ecological environment protection. It has set up a number of environmental governance models including the water treatment of Maozhou River, EPC water treatment and the creation of the post of environment protection director. The average PM2.5 concentrations decreased to 22.3 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3). The Jiangbi environment eco-industrial park, the world’s largest electronic information industry environmental protection base, started construction. In 2020, a number of parks including Bao'an Coastal Cultural Park, Haoxiang Lake Park and Shiyan Lake Wetland Park were opened to the public, increasing the total number of parks in Bao'an to 192. The greening coverage of the district reached 48 percent.

Development mission

According to the district government work report delivered by District Mayor Wang Lide at the third session of the Seventh Bao'an District People's Congress, in 2023, Bao'an District aims to realize an increase of 7% in its regional GDP, an increase of 7% in the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size, an increase of 7% in the total consumer goods retail sales, an increase of 10% in the research and development (R&D) investment for the whole of society, and an increase of 6% in general public budget revenue, and to ensure steady growth of the per capita disposable income of residents.