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Illustration: a child looks out over 1980s Shenzhen mid-construction, holding a toy bus, cranes and scaffolding rising behind a market street

Shenzhen

Shenzhen

A day trip into mainland China from Hong Kong in 1984, aged four — too young to remember any of it, but not too young to count.

Published 2026-08-06 · Updated 2026-08-06

I feel disingenuous including China in my travelogue. In 1984, when I was four years old, as part of our trip to see my grandfather in Australia, we spent some time in Hong Kong. As part of that trip, we did what many travellers at the time did, and took a day trip into mainland China, to Shenzhen.

As I was four, I remember nothing about this specifically, although I do remember scenes from Hong Kong, which makes me wonder if I have the ages wrong, but of China I remember nothing.

But it does meet my criteria. If I include Monaco and Colombia then China deserves its place, but if you want photographs or stories, I must point you elsewhere.