Shenzhen Municipality was known as Bao'an County. As early as in the Neolithic Age, human beings were found to live on this land. Shenzhen was under the jurisdiction of Panyu County in the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC) and was upgraded to a County in the Jin Dynasty (265 - 420). After repeated changes of names and subordinate relationship in the following dynasties, it was renamed as Bao'an County during the period of the Republic of China (1912-1949). Bao'an County was known for its revolutionary tradition and reputed as "vanguard of Guangdong". During the two Opium Wars (1840-1842 and 1856-1860), it was here in Bao'an that imperial envoy Lin Zexu from the Qing Court deployed defense against the opium smugglers from overseas. The 1900 Sanzhoutian Uprising (known as the start of China's democratic revolution against the royal court of the Qing Dynasty) led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1866 -1925) was originated in Sanzhoutian Village, Shatoujiao Town in Bao'an. During the Anti-Japanese War (1937-1945), Dongjiang River Guerrilla, which was then known widely for their military prowess in the South China, started and expanded from here. Bao'an County was liberated on October 15th 1949. In March 1979, it was changed into Shenzhen City. In August 1980, the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ) was officially established. In July 1981, Shenzhen was upgraded to the sub-provincial status (with more authorities). In October 1988, Shenzhen was approved by the State Council to pursue its independent economic development plan.

Shenzhen is a beautiful coastal city in a superb location; the only place in the mainland bordering on Hong Kong and it is an important passage linking Hong Kong with the mainland. Covering a total area of 1,948.69 square kilometers, including 391.71 square kilometers of Special Economic Zone, Shenzhen verges on Dapeng Bay (Mirs Bay) in the east, the outlet of the Pearl River in the west, Hong Kong in the south, and Dongguan and Huizhou in the north. Its landscape is mainly low hills with occasional plain tableland, declining from the southeast to the northwest. The western part of Shenzhen comprises coastal plains. The Shenzhen River is 35 kilometers in length. The annual average rainfall totals 1,933 mm. Found in Shenzhen are 23 types of mineral reserves and 81 ore occurrences, part of which is found to have commercially viable reserve. Shenzhen is an evergreen place in the subtropical marine climate with an annual average temperature of 22.4C.

Shenzhen governs six county-level administrative districts known as Luohu, Futian, Nanshan, Yantian within the SEZ and Bao'an and Longgang outside the SEZ. The Municipal Government is seated at Futian District. In 1992, Shenzhen realized its goal of "two changes" --turning rural villages into downtowns and farmers into urban dwellers. Shenzhen is a city of immigrants. By the end of 2003, the total population reached 5.574 million with 1.5 million household registered population and 4.074 million temporary residents. The city flower is azalea.