ShenZhen is not a national park， it is not an ecological model city. It is a juggernaut of city with more than 1.7 million cars， China number One in cars per capita density [evenbefore BeiJing and ShangHai！ ShenZhen is simply huge， extending across 2，050 squarekilometres， that is about one-eighth the size of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein which， however， is inhabited only by about a quarter to a fifth of the population (less than three million) in comparison to ShenZhen (12 to 15 million)]. Here， 30 to 40 times more people are living per square kilometre than in Schleswig-Holstein. The roads are crowded and I am often stuck in traffic jams. Riding by bike to the football pitch just takes me only about ten minutes more than by taxi： the costs saved have already amortised my bike， even if you reckon that it was stolen (apart from the associated health effect， which， however， again saves on the German health care system). A recent study found that ShenZhen has the fifth highest population density in the world.
That does not leave much space for green and nature. Yet it is possible to find some.
The city has everywhere applied smaller or larger parks. There is for example “SiHai GongYuan”， the Four Lakes Park， but the literal translation (“hai” means “sea” or “ocean”， but not “lake”) is a splendid exaggeration， because in this park no “lakes”， no “sea” and especially no “oceans” to speak of have been created but merely some slightly larger ponds， yet ponds they are. The first two Chinese characters in the park name 四海公园 also mean “the whole world”， and for me， surprisingly， in a figurative sense “to be loyal to his friends.” Whatever the true meaning of this name might be – at least the people here love this park， and I do， too.
Another park is called the Lotus Blossom Hill Park (LianHuaShan GongYuan， 莲花山公园 )， a park extending across 150 hectare， beautiful， sometimes (deliberately) overgrown， comparable in size to the Lychee Park (hardly overgrown， more “orderly”， with numerous small squares for many kinds of sport such as table tennis， badminton， etc.).
And then there is the Mangrove Park (HongShuLin GongYuan， 红树林公园)， which is integrated into a larger mangrove reserve. I was told that the mangroves had been almost destroyed， for the coastal road， one of the three major parallel multi-lane highways that are dissecting ShenZhen from east to west (and back) was planned right along the coast， but the plans provoked an uprising， so that finally the road was not only relocated a few hundred metres inland but also screened with several metres high walls from the mangrove forest and the adjacent scrub further inland. Along a distance of about six to eight kilometres， the coast is not accessible at all， not even for park visitors.
Seven days a week， weather reasonably permitting， the parks are crowded or just full of people. They meet here to play chess， cards， mah-jongg， badminton， fly kites， let their children or grandchildren play， flirt and kiss， fish， jump around in the mud or catch worms and snails from the shallow shore water， depending on age， preference， situation， season or time of day. On weekend evenings there is dancing， often till late into the night. Many hundreds of people participate in any activity， actively or passively， dancing or watching. The village meets to dance.
In each park people sing and play music on the weekends， there are small and large bands， here is a chorus of eight， over there three musicians are found， in another corner a large orchestra with one or two singers is playing. And somewhere remote you can find one single singer， for example， maintaining one single sound， for minutes， as long as breath will last. Nobody is surprised， everyone may do here what he desires. A practising session in the park， alone with a standard violin， a corresponding Chinese instrument or a flute， playing etudes and stumbling the gamut up and down， is anything but uncommon.
One exception is the YangTaiShan SenLin GongYuan (羊台山 森林公园 ， approx： Plain-of-Sheep Hill-Forest-Park)， rising some 500 m which make it the second highest hill of ShenZhen. The name derives from the fact that on the flat summit (the “plain”) a number of very large rocks is lying， one of which looking like the head of a sheep. At this summit， the Japanese invaders met particularly long resistance in 1937/38， until the Chinese had to submit here as well.
Here you can enjoy real peace， because only few people find this mountain at all (the access is not marked well， and the hill is not very popular)， and few people want to “climb” or walk up there. I have done it once， persuading Fang ShiFu to drive me and giving him leave to join me or not – he joined with enthusiasm， he did not know the hill， either. I had chosen a very hot day， no： not really chosen but it happened by chance that I was free on a very hot day between two July days of heavy rain.
When I gathered from the weather report that it would not rain or only briefly， I decided to go there. Temperatures rose to 35 °C， humidity to 95%， and the T-shirt and my shorts stuck to my body. We met only young people， after all， there were holidays and semester break at the university， but maybe there was only a total of 50 people during those four hours that it took us to the first summit (2，470 steps)， and back. The second， actual peak (at about the same height) we did not make any more， we would not even try， it would have been an exaggeration.
Not only did we feel the strain on those sometimes very steep stairs. Also the author of a graffito on one of the small pillars that support the railing had probably been close to despair and saved himself into sarcasm： “山上有美女冲啊， shan shang you mei nü chong a！” – “On the hill there’s pretty gals， hurry up， gah！” (There’s no girls up there， I checked that much).
We had a splendid view down on ShenZhen and in the distance to the highest hill of ShenZhen (the WuTong) which is a must-see for every resident， I have not been there yet.
It was a beautiful (very demanding) hike， essentially through forest， with very different trees. With almost all of the small groups of youthful climbers we exchanged a few words， many wanted to be photographed with me， the exotic guy， it was very funny.