Finding home in Shenzhen

For 28-year-old Priyasha Sharma, this year carries special significance.

Her home country, India, will host the 18th BRICS Summit in September, while the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will take place in November in Shenzhen, Guangdong province — the city where she has lived for the past 12 years.

"India is where I come from, and Shenzhen is where I grew," she said. "Seeing both places take center stage at major international events in the same year feels incredibly personal to me."

Sharma came to Shenzhen in 2014. At a time when many young Indians around her were looking to Western countries for educational opportunities, her father recognized Shenzhen's potential and encouraged her to look East.

Having done business in China for more than two decades, Sharma's father believed the city would become a major hub for technology and innovation in Asia. Inspired by his confidence, Sharma decided to begin a new chapter there.

Over the following years, she studied at Shenzhen University, earning a master's degree before launching her career there.

Today, she serves as business development director at a supply chain company that specializes in electronic components.

"What makes me especially proud is that I started out as the company's first foreign employee," she said. "Over time, I was able to build an international team and bring more people from different countries into the company."

Sharma's experience has also given her a close view of how career prospects for international professionals in Shenzhen have evolved.

More than a decade ago, she noticed that many foreign entrepreneurs coming to the city were involved mainly in trade and sourcing, helping bring Chinese products to overseas markets. It was far less common for them to work directly for Chinese companies.

Since then, Sharma has watched a growing number of young people from different countries pursue careers in Shenzhen, particularly in technology and cross-border e-commerce. Some have also turned to online platforms to share their experiences in the city with audiences overseas — becoming "informal ambassadors", as she calls them.

For Sharma, finding her place in Shenzhen was not always easy.

Language barriers and cultural differences presented challenges when she first arrived, and early in her career she found relatively few platforms that connected international job seekers with employment opportunities.

Navigating practical issues such as visas and taxes also took time to master.

But she has seen the city step up its efforts to support international residents and help newcomers adapt to life and work in Shenzhen. Around 2019 and 2020, for example, more service centers for international residents started to appear across the city.

Sharma was among the early participants in these initiatives and continues to advise several of them today.

"Having experienced firsthand the challenges of being an international student looking for a job and adapting to the culture, I wanted to help make the process easier for others," she said.

Her involvement eventually led her to look beyond these practical obstacles and recognize another gap: how Shenzhen was perceived by people outside the city.

During trips abroad, and even while visiting other parts of China, Sharma found that some people still thought of Shenzhen mainly as "a city near Hong Kong".

That realization encouraged her to become more active in cross-cultural engagement.

Through programs organized by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, youth exchanges involving ASEAN, and initiatives related to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, she gradually moved from being an observer to a storyteller.

Bridging two worlds

That shift has become especially visible this year. During APEC-related events, Sharma represented Yantian district in eastern Shenzhen and helped introduce the city to visitors from abroad.

"I'm no longer participating simply as someone who wants to learn about Shenzhen. I'm now able to share what I've learned from more than a decade of living and working here. I want more foreigners to understand that Shenzhen is a global city with its own identity," she said.

Sharma believes perceptions are changing.

Lately, she has noticed what she describes as a new trend taking shape in Shenzhen: technology-focused tourism. More young visitors from overseas are coming to explore the city's manufacturing ecosystem and supply chains. Some, she said, have come from established innovation hubs such as San Francisco.

Her connection to the city has also grown beyond work and international exchange.

Sharma has taken part in volunteer activities ranging from community service to charity projects supporting children with autism. These experiences have further strengthened her ties to Shenzhen and its residents.

"I came here as a foreigner, but through these experiences, I gradually stopped feeling like an outsider," she said. "I began to feel that I was contributing to the same community that had given me so much."

Looking back at the young woman who arrived in Shenzhen in 2014, Sharma is struck not only by how far her career has taken her, but also by how deeply the city has become part of her identity.

"I came to Shenzhen to study. I stayed to build a life. And somewhere along the way, Shenzhen became home," she said.