Shenzhen was officially designated as the City of Design, on Dec 7th, 2008. On that day, the confirmation letter to Shenzhen Municipal Government, signed by then director-general of UNESCO Koichiro Matsuura, was announced on a news conference held by Chinese National Commission for UNESCO. Shenzhen became the first city in China joining the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Now there are 4 other Chinese cities in the network: Beijing and Shanghai as the City of Design, Chengdu as the City of Gastronomy and Hangzhou as the City of Crafts and Folk Art.
The designation of Shenzhen as the City of Design was the result of recognition by the international community of Shenzhen’s achievement in innovation and creative industries, as well as the professional capacities and capabilities of design enterprises and designers in this city. Currently, there are thousands of design enterprises and over 100,000 professional designers in Shenzhen, covering various design fields like graphic design, industry design, interior and architectural design, fashion design, toy design, jewelry design, crafts design, etc. While achieving local success, many of them are gaining international recognition.