Shenzhen, China, 1999 - 2008, satellite image. Shenzhen is located in southern China's Guangdong province directly north of Hong Kong. In 1979 the small fishing village was designated a Special Economic Zone and rapidly went through extensive industrial and urban development. In 1999 (left) it had grown from the fishing village into a large city and by 2008 it had developed the port (bottom middle) to become China's second busiest mainland port (after Shanghai). There is also extensive urbanisation of the surrounding land. 1999 image acquired by the Landsat satellite and 2008 image acquired by the ASTER satellite.