From 'fishing village' to China's Silicon Valley

Innovation sector

In Nanshan, a growing number of startups have followed big players' footsteps in innovation and technology investment, Ding said.

When it was established in 1990, the GDP of the 187.47 square kilometer district was no more than 10 million yuan and it depended heavily on agriculture for economic growth.

But nowadays it is a dynamic economic area driven by emerging and technologically innovative businesses, with its economy surpassing 500 billion yuan ($69.75 billion) last year.

Strategic emerging industries and investment in scientific research in the district, which neighbors Hong Kong, now account for more than 60 percent and 4.71 percent of its economy, respectively.

"After years of development, Shenzhen is more like China's Silicon Valley, based on the input of technology and the emergence of a large number of young companies," Ding said.

Shenzhen Yibaifen Biological Technology, founded in 2016, is seen as a typical emerging startup in Nanshan.

Chen Hangzhou, chairman of Shenzhen Yibaifen, said booming Internet technology and China's ambitious strategy to develop the public health industry had been driving the company's rapid growth in recent years.

"I've had a dream to get involved in the health industry since high school when I was suffering from an intestinal tract disease," Chen said.

He graduated from Shenzhen University in 2006 and worked at an airline company before starting Shenzhen Yibaifen with four other co-founders a decade later.

"Shenzhen has earned a reputation for innovation since China's reform and opening-up in the late 1970s. I have been studying and working in the city for years, as well as witnessing so many young people starting their business here," he said.

The company launched its first product in 2016, Yishengjun, a probiotic drink, and has attracted a growing number of consumers thanks largely to modern marketing, Chen said.

He said they had targeted young people shopping for and sharing products online, adding that using social networks was "less costly and more effective in reaching potential customers".

The company has developed an online sales team of more than 100,000 retailers who sell Yibaifen's products on mobile phone platforms. It has also jointly established manufacturing bases in Taiwan, Jinan in Shandong province, Shantou in Guangdong province, and Qichun in Hubei province.