The Shenzhen Experiment

The Shenzhen Experiment: The Story of China's Instant City is a 2020 non-fiction book by Juan Du, published by Harvard University Press.

[11] Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, in The Wall Street Journal, wrote that the book is "a compilation of stories" that make the work "colorful and engaging", and not only "a collection of analytic claims".

Taomo Zhou[note 2] of Nanyang Technological University stated that these details are due to Du's architectural background and praised the maps and photographs as being "impressive".

[5] Joel Campbell of Troy University argued that the book was supposed to be about how Shenzhen developed post-1979 but that it should have focused more on that era and on the area political figures and less on the pre-1979 period.

[18] Wasserstrom praised how the work is "a major contribution to understanding a fascinating city" though he argued she should not have de-emphasized the massacre, should have cited Shenzheners by Xue Yiwei, and should have examined how the "“fishing village" myth" became popularized.

[19] China City Planning Review argued that the book may be used as "reference material for the exploration and practice of multi-plan integration.