Prof. Mauricio Cardenas (4th L) exchanges views with Qi Yi, vice dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Shenzhen University, at the ongoing photo exhibition on Shenzhen's development at the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning in Futian District.
More than 50,000 people visited the ongoing photo exhibition celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning in Futian District during the National Day holiday that ended yesterday.
Visitors to the exhibition, which features 75 groups of photos on Shenzhen's development since 1949, left heartfelt messages expressing their affection for Shenzhen and their well-wishes for the nation.
Photographs capturing milestones in the development of Shenzhen were on display, including the establishment of the government of Shenzhen as a township in 1949, the Shenzhen Reservoir construction site in 1959, the slogan "Time is money, efficiency is life" erected in Shekou in 1982, the first China Hi-Tech Fair in 1999, the Qianhai area in 2010, the premiere of Shenzhen-produced dance drama "Wing Chun" in 2022, and the opening of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link on June 30 this year.
Standing in front of a photo of a ceremony marking the expansion of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ) from the four districts of Nanshan, Futian, Luohu, and Yantian into the entire city in July 2010, a visitor surnamed Mei told her children that Longgang and Bao'an were the two districts outside the SEZ before.
"The photos are of historical significance and capture the footprints of Shenzhen's development in different stages. I want my children to know more about the city," said Mei.
Another visitor from Morocco, who identified herself as Lina, said she was immediately captivated by Shenzhen's technology and architecture upon her arrival in September.
To express her affection, she and her friends went to the message area of the exhibition to write their blessings, drawing ancient Chinese architecture.
Italian Mauricio Cardenas, who has recently been hired by Shenzhen University as a professor of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, said he visited China for the first time in 1991 and this photo exhibition brought back many fond memories of China for him.
"I will be living in Shenzhen for a long term. The exhibition has given me a deeper understanding of the city," he said.