Shenzhen won�t seek municipality status

Shenzhen officials denied they would seek to make the city a central government-controlled municipality, according to a report in the South China Morning Post. A switch to direct control by Beijing would deepen rivalry between Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Special Administrative Regions Hong Kong and Macau, a Shenzhen-based think-tank said. Academics have lobbied for Shenzhen to be named China's fifth municipality after Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing, saying the change would make economic restructuring easier.