With a string of events being sponsored to celebrate Shenzhen's 30th anniversary as a special economic zone (SEZ), it is necessary for China's earliest SEZ to look back at the special initiatives it has taken over the past three decades to spearhead the country's economic boom and explore new ones to lead the city and the whole nation to a larger economic miracle.

During an inspection tour of the prosperous southern city from Aug 20-21, Premier Wen Jiabao urged local officials to adhere to the SEZ's accumulated spirit and experiences in its explorations for special and new initiatives to boost local economic and social development.

The anniversary comes at a time when a number of other cities, especially those in coastal regions, have also achieved significant economic progress over the past years.

Shenzhen, as the earliest window of China's reform and opening-up to the world, should rely on much-needed, sober recognition and judgment among its people toward the direction of its future development, to keep its leading position in national economic development.

It took Shenzhen only 30 years to complete its industrialization, urbanization and internationalization, a process that developed countries used nearly 300 years to achieve. However, the Chinese city has also encountered all the problems that developed countries faced in this marathon process. The problems have emerged in a more concentrated, intensive and fierce manner. Compared with some domestic second-tier cities and even with first-tier metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai, Shenzhen has to brace itself for an earlier burst of a variety of problems.

Since the global financial crisis, Shenzhen has also been the first Chinese city to sustain enormous pressures from its economic transformation and industrial restructuring. To help mitigate such pressures, the city's widely circulated plan to transfer some labor-intensive industries to inland regions has also caused nationwide controversy.