Shenzhen's Yumin village, facing Hong Kong to the south, was once known as a typical urban village in the Pearl River Delta, surrounded by high-rise buildings but characterized by dense and disorderly living conditions as well.

But the place, whose name means Fishermen village, where the local people depended on fishing in the early 1980s, has undergone tremendous change in the past few years. That is especially so since CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping visited in late 2012 and subsequently encouraged reforms benefiting the area.