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Photo: Mx. Granger, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
This is putatively the tomb of the last Emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty (d. 1279). There is little doubt that he died in this general area after fleeing from the Mongols who had taken the dynastic capital Hangzhou. Modern knowledge of the tomb dates back to the latter years of the 19th century when the Zhao (Cantonese Chiu) Clan of Hong Kong (Zhao was the Song Imperial surname) researched the tomb and declared it to be in Chiwan near the great Tianhou Temple. Certainly there are folk tales of the Emperor's demise current in the Chiwan area and very large numbers of people claiming Imperial descent in the district. But the claims remain debatable. The tomb was restored in the early 20th century and subsequently fell into disrepair. It was rediscovered by a military cook during the Cultural Revolution but left alone. The Shenzhen City Government further restored it in the 1980s. It is in the form of a normal Chinese upper class tomb and the focus of much popular devotion.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
赤湾天后宫 Chìwān Tiānhòu Gōng
This is one of China's biggest and most splendid temples to Tianhou, also known as Mazu, the Goddess of Heaven who guards over sailors and fishermen. It was founded in the early fifteenth century by the famous eunuch admiral Zheng He who, during one of his voyages of discovery, was saved from shipwreck here during a typhoon by the intercession of Tianhou, this despite the fact that Zheng He was a Muslim. It has been restored many times during its lifetime, most recently during the 1980s after the ravages of the Cultural Revolution. At one time it was the biggest temple to Tianhou in existence. It is built in the style of the Ming Dynasty (14th to 17th centuries) and is a magnificent example of this style. The buildings have lovely sky-blue roofs and inside some of them are exhibitions about Tianhou and Chinese maritime history.
赤湾左炮台
Chiwan was one of the prime defensive spots on the Pearl River. The Chiwan Fort was divided into two parts, the Left Fort and the Right Fort. Originally they had twelve gun positions but now only the Left Fort is in any reasonable degree of repair. Perched on Ying Zui Mountain, at over 160 m (500 feet) above the Pearl River, they commanded a full field of fire. Their failure to make any impression on British ships as they entered the Pearl was one of the first great disasters of the Opium War. There's not much left of the Left Fort besides a single cannon and stone walls overgrown with banyan trees, though there is also a statue of Lin Zexu, the Viceroy of the Two Guangs, whose decision to try to destroy the opium trade was one of the factors leading to the Opium War.
招商局历史博物馆
The official museum of the China Merchants Group (招商局集团), a major state-owned corporation based in Hong Kong.
蛇口海上世界, Shékǒu Hǎishàng Shìjiè
A shopping/entertainment complex full of foreign restaurants, which has nothing to do with the US marine animal park. In 1984 Shekou was booming and there was a serious shortage of accommodation. To deal with this, the cruise ship "Ming Hua" (commissioned in 1962 in France) was moored alongside the dock and used as a floating hotel and restaurant. Only nine years before it had been the focus of a political typhoon during the movement which saw Deng Xiaoping sent for the second time into political limbo. No wonder that he was happy to write an inscription in his own handwriting, "Sea World", a facsimile of which now presides in neon over the ship. The land has now been reclaimed for half a mile beyond the ship which now sits in a shallow pool. But the attractive square in front of the ship is surrounded by restaurants and coffee shops designed to evoke foreign lands like Europe, and successfully so, with the result that it's very popular among Shenzhen's expats. Various foreign restaurants like Turkish or Brazilian which are always considered rare anywhere in SZ. Bars are also numerous.
海上世界文化艺术中心, 设计互联 Design Society
Shenzhen's largest design museum, plus cultural mall. Located close to the shopping/entertainment complex of the same name (below).
南山公园, Nánshān Gōngyuán
A forested hill with hiking trails. The peak (大南山 Dà Nánshān) is 336 meters high and the trails are mostly stairs, so this is a reasonably challenging hike. Plan about 2–3 hours round trip if you're a strong hiker, or longer if you want to explore more of the trails. The park is quiet, without many hikers, and on a clear day the peak has lovely views of the city, the water, and Hong Kong's New Territories.