Marking the 45th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the 15th year of the Qianhai Cooperation Zone, the city has unveiled the “Eye of the Bay Area,” a major cultural complex in the Qianhai district in late September.

The 131,000-square-meter venue is a significant addition to the city’s cultural infrastructure. It houses a collection of over 300,000 books and features 8,400 sq m dedicated exclusively to reading spaces. The facility is crowned by a circular rooftop garden exceeding 20,000 sq m. With a schedule of round-the-clock programming, the garden will host a diverse array of cultural events, including scientific talks, pop-up exhibitions, and live musical performances.

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The “Eye” is organized into two thematic sections. The northern zone operates as a center for arts and ideas, containing extensive humanities and philosophy collections, lecture halls, and a central art installation named the Wisdom Tree. The southern zone focuses on cultural heritage and family education, encompassing a 10,000-sq-m folk culture exhibition space and interactive children’s areas with themes such as deep-sea exploration.

Fully integrated with Shenzhen’s public library system, the complex is also flanked by nearly 200 retail and dining establishments, creating a comprehensive cultural and commercial destination.

According to Zhang Ling, head of the city’s municipal publicity department, the venue was conceived not as a mere retail space but as a “hub for cultural life and innovation”, designed to attract authors, scholars, and cultural institutions to foster a dynamic exchange of ideas.

The “Eye of the Bay Area” represents the latest in a series of major cultural investments for Shenzhen, following recent additions like the Science and Technology Museum. Together, these initiatives aim to enhance the cultural landscape for the city’s 18 million residents and redefine its urban identity.