Three designs have come to the fore during an international bidding for Shenzhen’s largest urban renovation project in Shajing Street area in Bao’an District, sznews.com reported yesterday.

The three winners — designed by Internationales Stadtbauatelier, ISA International (Germany), and Ingame (Shenzhen) + Qingyuan Vision (Beijing) Culture Consulting Co. Ltd. — were selected out of six entries by a panel of nine heavyweights in urban planning, landscape, transportation, and historical relics.

In the panel were Shan Jixiang, president of the Chinese Society of Cultural Relics and former president of the Forbidden City, who is acclaimed as the museum’s most innovative and reform-minded director, and Zhang Yuxing, a Shenzhen University researcher. Zhang’s project, the rejuvenation of Shajing Ancient Fair, won the 2021 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Conservation Awards for sustainable development. It was the first time a Shenzhen project won the prestigious award.

The final design for the Shajing Street area will absorb advantages of the three winners, according to the report.

The area, also known as Golden Oyster Town or Shajing Ancient Fair, in Shajing Subdistrict is one of the city’s four ancient ruins. The other three are Dongmen Old Street, Shatoujiao Old Street and Guanlan Ancient Ruins.

A computerized image of the renovated Guanlan Ancient Ruins in Longhua District. File photo

The design area is about 3 square kilometers, including 23 hectares of historical sites.

After being renovated, the Shajing Street area will become a center of western Shenzhen and a model for integrated development of culture and tourism, according to the report.

The project will also help enhance the well-knowness of Shajing oysters, improve transport, educational and cultural infrastructure in the area, and address high-end demand surges for shopping, catering and accommodation.

Shajing has a history of about 1,000 years and is home to 33 historical sites.

For more than 1,000 years, the Shajing people have been raising oysters. In 2007, the oyster breeding in Shajing, along with other local customs related to oysters, was listed as Shenzhen’s intangible cultural heritage.