China's Silicon Valley is propelled by innovation

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From a fishing village to southern China's technology hub, Shenzhen's transformation over the past four decades has dazzled the world. With tech leaders like Huawei and DJI, Shenzhen has been dubbed the country's Silicon Valley. But what makes Shenzhen so special? A drone may give some clue.

On December 4, DJI’s latest agricultural drone, the T-16, characterized by having a “bigger than ever” size, took flight in Shenzhen, China’s Silicon Valley. With an all-weather data imaging radar that can monitor the farmland environments, it can spray pesticide over a 10-hectare area in one hour, a 67 percent increase over its drone predecessors.

The T-16, DJI's latest agricultural drone. /CGTN Photo

With digital beam forming technology, it can realize 3D point cloud imaging, which can effectively identify complex farmland scenes and achieve autonomous obstacle-avoiding flight. And with the radar supporting terrain slope detection, the drone can also traverse mountain slopes in the mode of constant-distance flying.

Behind all of these innovations is the dedication of hundreds of engineers. Li Xingnong is one of those at DJI, the world's largest drone maker.

"I spent half a year travelling across China to collect the data of different crops. It's hard, but you're kind of participating in a great cause of modernizing and reforming the traditional agriculture production mode," Li said. "It makes me proud of what I'm doing."

Li Xingnong, a drone engineer who came to Shenzhen two years ago. /CGTN Photo

Innovations from Shenzhen are gradually changing China. Li said he chose to come to the city two years ago because this is an innovative place that is full of opportunities.

"Even when my friends and I go out for fun, we still can't help talking about work, inventions, technologies and etc. It's weird but this is Shenzhen."

Forty years ago, the garage culture in California's Silicon Valley led to the birth of Apple and Microsoft. And now the passion of young Chinese engineers also makes companies such as Huawei and DJI world technology leaders in Shenzhen.

Roger Luo, the president of DJI, said, "DJI's success came about because we gathered a group of like-minded young talents who did not pursue money or short-term interests. Instead, they kept advancing their techniques and wanted to fill in the technical gaps."

It is the innovative spirit of the thousands of engineers at DJI that have made the company what it is today. It is also that same spirit of the millions in Shenzhen that keeps the city moving.