It is true, as commentators have been commenting, that Hong Kong is the perfect place to host negotiations on free trade, such as the recent World Trade Organisation meetings. After all, just look at what trade has done for Hong Kong: turned it from a barren rock into one of the world's most vibrant cities. It could be argued, however, that an even better example exists of both the benefits and challenges brought to a people by their decision to engage in free trade. It is right next door.
Shenzhen has grown by an annualised average of 32 per cent since the late Deng Xiaoping planted ceremonial beans in its rice paddies 25 years ago. It didn't have much of a base to start from. But what is most amazing about the city is that it has grown through phases of its development when everyone expected it to slow down.
It is difficult to plot an accurate line of Shenzhen's economic metamorphosis on a chart, due to the unreliability of its data. It can safely be assumed that there were years when the numbers were pumped up, and years when they were flattened out, to suit the party's central planners. Yet the overall trend is undeniable.
Shenzhen has been probably the most astonishing economic growth story the world has seen. The market has thrown curve balls at the city, such as the rush of Taiwanese investment that flowed past it and into Dongguan in the early 1990s; as has the central government, with its decision in the late 1990s to favour Shanghai's stock exchange over Shenzhen's for new listings. But Shenzhen has managed to keep booming.
Its gross domestic product is expected to come in at around US$43 billion this year, a 13 per cent rise on last year - which saw record growth of 17.3 per cent. When those numbers are revised upwards by the most recent economic census, it will likely be a bigger adjustment than anywhere else in the country. That is because Shenzhen is the most dynamic middleman on the mainland, and trade-related services - facilitating the flow of goods rather than actually making them - is a grey area, where the central government has found the biggest loopholes in its statistical reporting system.
Again, one might have reason to quibble with the numbers in absolute terms but, relatively speaking, they tell a story. Shenzhen's exports this year are expected to be about US$78 billion, much higher than the GDP - the value of goods and services actually produced in the city. Compare that to Taiwan, one of the original Asian dragons - held up as models of a trade-focused economy - whose exports make up just half of its GDP.