ABSTRACT
Shenzhen, which is the part of China immediately north of Hong Kong and its "New Territories," did not exist as a city as recently as Ronald Reagan's time in the White House. Modern Shenzhen has traits that Americans would associate with a booming Sunbelt city—transient, rough, unmannered, full of opportunity—and that characterized Manchester, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles at their times of fastest growth. In 1996, just after he turned 30, Liam Casey went to Taipei for an electronics trade show. It was his first trip to Asia, and he says, "I could see this is where the opportunity was." Within a year, he had set up operations in the Shenzhen area and started the company known as PCH China Solutions. Casey describes his mission as "helping innovators leverage the manufacturing supply chain here in China." To see how this works, consider the great human flows that now converge in southern China, which companies like Casey's help mediate.
