Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone 前海深港现代服务业合作区

Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone. Photo by Ning Jiewen

Qianhai lies on Shenzhen’s western waterfront, directly across the bay from Hong Kong. Just over a decade ago, much of this area was tidal flats. Today it is one of China’s most closely watched platforms for reform, opening-up and Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation — and a demonstration that a city can grow not only in height and output, but in institutional sophistication.

前海位于深圳西部滨海岸线，隔海湾与香港相望。十余年前，这里大片还是滩涂；如今它是中国备受关注的改革、开放与深港合作平台之一，也证明一座城市不仅能向上、向上产，也能在制度上走向成熟。

The State Council approved the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone in August 2010 with a nine-character brief: “relying on Hong Kong, serving the mainland, facing the world.” In September 2021, the Central Government issued the Qianhai Plan, expanding the zone more than eightfold — from 14.92 to 120.56 square kilometers — to take in Shekou, the airport area, the Bao’an center and Dachan Bay, and the convention-and-exhibition and marine new towns, and assigned it a twin mission: a pilot platform for comprehensively deepening reform and innovation, and a high-level gateway hub for opening up. A master plan released in December 2023 added two further roles — a leading zone for deep Shenzhen-Hong Kong integration, and a highland for high-quality development of modern services.

2010年8月，国务院批准设立前海深港现代服务业合作区，给出九字定位："依托香港、服务内地、面向世界"。2021年9月，中央下发《前海方案》，将合作区面积由14.92平方公里扩大至120.56平方公里，扩容逾八倍，纳入蛇口、机场片区、宝安中心区与大铲湾、会展新城及海洋新城，并赋予双重使命：全面深化改革创新试验平台、高水平对外开放门户枢纽。2023年12月的总体规划又增加两个定位——深港深度融合引领区、现代服务业高质量发展高地。

What makes Qianhai special is the idea of institutional innovation. Qianhai has been experimenting with new ways to connect different legal systems, business practices and professional services: eligible civil and commercial contracts in the zone may choose Hong Kong law, and Hong Kong may be chosen as the seat of arbitration; the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration maintains a roster of arbitrators covering 114 countries and regions; Hong Kong construction professionals in 11 categories may practise after simple registration; and by the end of 2025 more than 1,100 overseas professionals had registered to work in the zone. By late 2023 the zone had accumulated more than 800 institutional-innovation achievements, dozens of which have since been replicated across China. PwC’s annual blue book on Qianhai’s business environment has judged its overall level to be approaching that of China’s Hong Kong and Singapore.

前海的特殊之处在于制度创新。前海持续探索衔接不同法域、商业规则与专业服务的新路径：区内符合条件的民商事合同可选择适用香港法，仲裁地可选香港；深圳国际仲裁院仲裁员名册覆盖114个国家和地区；11类香港建筑专业人士经简易登记即可执业；截至2025年底，已有1100多名境外专业人士登记在区执业。到2023年下半年，前海累计形成制度创新成果800多项，其中数十项在全国复制推广。普华永道每年发布的前海营商环境蓝皮书判断其整体水平已接近香港、新加坡。

The economy built on that foundation is substantial: GDP of 175.6 billion yuan (US$24 billion) in 2021, up 10.5%, with paid-in foreign investment of about US$5.8 billion that year. The Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong International Finance City has attracted more than 300 financial institutions; a comprehensive bonded zone, an AI industry cluster and a growing set of international exchange platforms round out a modern-services economy deliberately designed to complement Hong Kong’s.

建立其上的经济规模可观：2021年地区生产总值1756亿元（约240亿美元），同比增长10.5%，当年实际利用外资约58亿美元。前海深港国际金融城已吸引300多家金融机构入驻；综合保税区、AI产业集群与一批国际交流平台共同构成与香港互补的现代服务业经济体系。

The integration numbers deepen the story. By December 2025, Qianhai hosted 10,577 Hong Kong-funded enterprises with registered capital of 846.14 billion yuan; in the first 10 months of 2025, more than 80% of newly established foreign-invested enterprises in Qianhai were from Hong Kong, up 83.8% year-on-year. The Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entreprenerur Hub has incubated 1,591 start-up teams — 1,161 of them from Hong Kong, Macao or overseas — which have raised a combined 6.8 billion yuan. One-stop services now cover employment, housing, schooling and healthcare for Hong Kong residents; an “iAM Smart” counter in the e-Station service hall lets them handle 300 Hong Kong government services without leaving Shenzhen.

融合的数据使故事更深入。截至2025年12月，前海聚集港资企业10577家，注册资本8461.4亿元；2025年前10个月，前海新设外资企业中逾八成来自香港，同比增长83.8%。深港青年梦工场累计孵化创业团队1591个——其中1161个来自港澳及海外——累计融资68亿元。一站式服务已覆盖港人就业、住房、入学、就医；e站事服务厅的"智方便"自助机让港人在深圳即可办理300项香港政务，无需离深。

In 2026 — the year the APEC meeting wil be held in Shenzhen — Qianhai’s action plan for building a Shenzhen-Hong Kong deep-integration leading zone lists 56 tasks across rules alignment, industrial synergy and livelihood integration, including a two-way “Shenzhen-Hong Kong Convergence” headquarters base, an international technology-transfer centre and a cross-border low-altitude logistics pilot. For international companies, all this means a more familiar and convenient environment for doing business in the Greater Bay Area. And for visitors, Qianhai represents another important part of Shenzhen’s modernization story: innovation is not only technological. It can also be institutional.

2026年——深圳举办APEC会议之年——前海建设深港深度融合引领区行动计划列出56项任务，涵盖规则衔接、产业协同与民生融合，包括双向"深港融通"总部基地、国际技术转移中心、跨境低空物流试点。对国际企业而言，这一切意味着更熟悉、更便利的粤港澳大湾区营商环境；对访客而言，前海是深圳现代化故事的又一重要篇章：创新不只是技术的，也可以是制度的。