When you earn 10,000 yuan a month, Shenzhen is the most authentic everyday look of ordinary people—squeezing onto buses and subways through the daily morning and evening rush hours, with buses and subways that never seem to run out, and meals you can’t finish, like braised pork knuckle rice and spicy hotpot.

After your monthly income reaches 100,000 yuan, Shenzhen starts to look better: it becomes a sleek, fashionable CBD, with the lights and crowds of Zhuoyue and Vientiane City—only then do you truly feel like you’ve integrated into this city.
Once you’re making 500,000 yuan a month, Shenzhen instantly turns into a luxurious, bustling metropolis—neon lights and a life of bright lights and nightlife, and all your connections, human resources, and windfall opportunities begin to revolve around you. Your circle and your horizons are already completely different.
It’s never that you’re the one adapting to Shenzhen—rather, it’s the money you earn that determines which version of Shenzhen you get to see.