00:00 Intro
00:40 "Super-sized Forest" in China's Silicon Valley Managed by Drones
02:22 Even Freight Trucks Are EVs, Substations Moved Underground
03:05 Why Is China Going All-In on Eco-Friendliness?

There is a saying in China: "To see China's past, go to Beijing; for its present, Shanghai; and for its future, Shenzhen." If the United States has Silicon Valley, China has Shenzhen. Located just north of Hong Kong, Shenzhen was little more than a rural farming and fishing village before being designated as a special economic zone under the reform and opening-up policy in the 1980s. In fact, millions of people once smuggled themselves into Hong Kong in search of jobs. Today, however, Shenzhen has completely transformed.

1. "Super-sized Forest" in China's Silicon Valley Managed by Drones
China's leading high-tech companies, including Tencent, BYD, Huawei, and DJI, are all headquartered in Shenzhen, alongside dense research complexes. In Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen's iconic electronics market district, a popular saying goes that if you order a prototype in the morning, it will be ready by the evening—making it a long-standing mecca for young entrepreneurs. That is why it is called China's Silicon Valley, drawing tech-savvy and idea-driven Chinese youth. Now, Shenzhen is undergoing another transformation, channeling its capabilities beyond high-tech industries into eco-friendly development. An area spanning 970 square kilometers—more than half of the city's total area and 1.5 times the size of Seoul—has been designated as an environmental protection zone. Considering that Chinese administrative districts are relatively large, this is a massive scale. Right in the middle of the urban center, a lush forest measuring 3 square kilometers, roughly the size of Yeouido, has been created. This is not just a standard protected zone or forest; cutting-edge technology is fully mobilized to manage it. Drones fly around to monitor the condition of mangrove trees, which have a high carbon absorption rate, and the data collected by these AI-powered drones is frequently shared with environmental authorities. This system is the result of collaboration between DJI, which accounts for 70% of the global drone market, and AI developers based in Shenzhen.

[DJI Official: This drone can detect the distribution of chlorophyll in crops. It is mainly used alongside agricultural drones. The analytical maps captured by drones show areas with poor crop growth and high pest incidence rates.]

Drones can also directly extinguish small fires and spray eco-friendly supplements necessary for plant growth. In Shenzhen, where drone delivery is already a reality, this is said to be no difficult task.

2. Even Freight Trucks Are EVs, Substations Moved Underground
Shenzhen is also pushing hard to introduce electric vehicles with the goal of becoming a "carbon-neutral city" by 2035.

[Ni Ping / Shenzhen Resident: All of them are electric vehicles. Even freight trucks are electric trucks. Taxis and buses are all new energy vehicles. The entire city of Shenzhen is like this.]

Achieving carbon neutrality requires efficient electricity supply across the entire city, which is why urban substations have all been moved underground or converted into ecological parks. Transforming the environment around substations has also minimized magnetic field generation. I personally tested the magnetic field level inside a substation, and it was only 0.01 microteslas—about one-hundredth the level of a hair dryer.

3. Why Is China Going All-In on Eco-Friendliness?
So, why is Shenzhen going all-in on eco-friendliness? Behind this lies China's strategic judgment. Once known as the world's factory emitting pollutants, China has now risen to a stage where it engages in strategic competition with the United States over AI, robotics, and semiconductor technologies. Taking a step further, it has revealed its ambition for China to lead the world in environmental issues as well. Shenzhen is the ultimate model to showcase this. In particular, the APEC Summit will be held in Shenzhen this November. The intention is clearly to promote Shenzhen as an eco-friendly high-tech city in front of leaders from around the world. Ahead of the APEC summit, China has been hosting various APEC ministerial meetings in Shenzhen to promote its eco-friendly high-tech credentials. Last month, the APEC Ministerial Meeting on Forestry was held in Shenzhen, with the environment taking center stage as the main agenda.

[Park Eun-sic / Minister of the Korea Forest Service: I think the Chinese government wanted to emphasize that Shenzhen is a highly developed region where China's reform and opening-up policy was first implemented and numerous high-tech companies are located. During the preliminary meetings, they strongly emphasized how well they are protecting ecological preservation, marine natural resources, and mountain natural resources. From that perspective, I believe they think Shenzhen can effectively showcase the development in harmony with nature emphasized by President Xi Jinping.]

In particular, the Chinese government has shown great interest in forest resource protection and expressed a desire to share information and learn from South Korea's wildfire suppression capabilities and systems. This can be seen as a struggle to shed the image of fine dust and environmental pollution traditionally associated with China and transform into an eco-friendly nation.

(Reported by Han Sang-woo | Produced by Shin Hee-sook | Video by Choi Deok-hyun | Video Editing by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News)