Growing pains

However, Guo Wanda, vice president of the Shenzhen-based China Development Institute, says the city must look to its own problems before it can stand alongside other international cities.

Citing one of his surveys, Guo says Shenzhen, though already becoming a developed economy, falls behind its overseas peers in many aspects, most notably in the efficient use of energy and resources.

The city's gross domestic product per square kilometer for instance was only an eleventh the size of Hong Kong's. Its water use efficiency measured by consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP was less than a third of that of Japan.

Official figures show its GDP is only half that of Hong Kong, but its population and land area are double.

"This is a result of a resource depletive economic growth model. If Shenzhen can successfully restructure its economy, then China will have some experience to draw upon," says Guo.

Apart from an unsustainable economic growth mode, other problems have arisen, highlighted by former mayor Xu Zongheng, who was formally removed in mid-August for having abused his office to make profits for others, taking bribes and leading a corrupt lifestyle, and the 12 young Foxconn employees who had migrated to the city and ended up taking their own lives.

Guo says the two issues are "convincing evidence" that economic growth alone cannot guarantee a service-oriented government and satisfaction for ordinary people.

"Thorny issues such as the widening wealth gap, corruption, unbalanced development and insufficient public services all need to be addressed as soon as possible," he says.