Wetland of Overseas Chinese Town （East Gate）

This guide to the Wetland at Overseas Chinese Town's East Gate in Shenzhen starts with a stretch of tidal flat that survived the 1990s land-filling boom by accident, left behind while the rest of the bay disappeared under new city. It follows what that forgotten pocket became next, a dumping ground of sewage and rubbish and illegal structures, before the OCT Group was handed the site in 2007 and told to reverse it. You'll hear about the years of dredging and mangrove replanting that followed, and the flyway of migratory birds that now stops here every autumn. Stand at the East Gate and watch the water for a while before moving on.