After celebrating his sixtieth birthday, Lai Yuanqiang, a peasant of Longgang Village in Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, received his first monthly retirement pension of 745 yuan (US$90) and said farewell to his farming life.

In Longgang Village, Lai is not the only fortunate old man to enjoy the monthly pension which had been a privilege to urban retired old people. Together with him, 39 old people got the endowment insurance after fulfilling their retirement procedures.

For Lai and his fellow beneficiaries, all of whom have been leading a hard life by farming in the fields, "it is such a good thing that we never even dreamed of before," he said.

But it is just one of the numerous changes taken place after the Shenzhen City government declared on March 25 that it would delay the deadline of its modernization process from 2005 to 2010.

Since it was established as the first special economic zone of China in 1980, Shenzhen has witnessed an annual average gross domestic product (GDP) increase rate of 28 percent, leaving far behind other regions in the country. And it has been leading all Chinese cities in per-sq-km GDP output value and tax revenue.

Honored as the "development miracle" of China and "window to China's economic reform", Shenzhen has been the hope for many Chinese to realize their dream of modernization.

In 2001, as the first city of China, Shenzhen declared it would realize modernization in 2005 and stipulated 42 norms for achieving this great project.

Since then, Shenzhen experienced a sharp transformation in its road towards modernization.

According to an evaluation made by the Shenzhen city government, by 2002, the city has fulfilled 84.3 percent of its modernization targets.

But the realization of those norms on social sustainable development and living standards lags far behind, such as the gross product of per kilogram energy sources, green coverage, sewage treatment rate, disposable income of the citizens, and per capita library book amount.

As a result, many derived social problems such as environmental pollution, personnel shortage in public welfare, contradictions produced by different migrant cultures, and underdeveloped villages under the enclosure of relatively developed urban areas, all began to bother this newly born city.

"Such problems, many the same as those the westerners had been faced with in the last century, are common during the course of modernization and cannot be solved within a short period," said Yang Lixun, a research member with the city academy of social sciences.

To adapt to the current development state of the city, the Shenzhen city government adjusted its modernization norm system when making the decision to extend its modernization process for five years.

After deleting 17 norms lagging far behind the times, including the per capita living electricity consumption amount and automobile ownership number per 10,000 persons, the new modernization system is made up of 38 norms. Some new norms such as the Internet access rate of governmental public affairs, enrolled unemployment rate and English popularization rate in social services are included in the new system.

"The new modernization blueprint will change Shenzhen into a charming city not only as a forceful economic engine but also of healthy social environment," said Zhang Zhigang who owns a private enterprise in Shenzhen.

For many experts, the move of the Shenzhen city government to postpone its timetable of the modernization process "is a radical turn from the traditional administrative culture of the county which had once taken speed and scale as the most important achievement norm," said Li Luoli, director of China Development Institute.

"It's a great change of China's administrative culture, which once refused to admit faults or deviations made by the governments or officials and sometimes would even defend the authority at the price of truth and rules," said Li.

"It signified that the decision making concept of Chinese governments at all levels is undergoing a profound transformation when a scientific development concept becomes the administrative guideline," said Li.

As for Li Hongzhong, mayor of Shenzhen, such a change in administrative concept is a matter of vital importance to the development of the city.

"By making concessions in the modernization speed, we aim to establish a healthy, sustainable and people-first modern city," said Li.

(eastday.com April 23, 2004)