Passports and passes: Although Chinese tourists require a special "frontier pass" to enter Shenzhen, non Chinese do not. When you enter the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) by bus however, the local police and customs officers will board to check passports and frontier passes. If you travel through the zone by taxi, you have to get out of your vehicle at the border and walk through customs, picking up your taxi on the other side again. You may be asked to show your passport here and all this bureaucratizes is rather time consuming.

Visas: Visitors are permitted to stay in Shenzhen for 72 hours without a Chinese Visa. You are not however, allowed to travel elsewhere in the country and must stay within the city boundaries.

Currency:Shenzhen operates a dual currency system. Hong Kong dollars and Chinese RMB can be used to pay for things, but only RMB is usually given as change. Most hotels change money and there is a money exchange bureau at the Hong Kong border in the train station.

Property Agents: Most people wanting to rent an apartment in Shenzhen will do so through a property agent. Property agents can be found on almost every street in the city. The fees charged may vary but typically they charge a one off fee equal to half the amount of one month's rent. This is open to negotiation.
As there are so many property agents in Shenzhen and the best one to use depends on the area you want to live in, it is impossible to list them in this section. The best approach is to find an area you like and go to a few agencies and ask them to show you apartments in that area. Before handing over money, ensure that all appliances are in order.

Map:An English map (it's actually bilingual) of Shenzhen is available at the tourist information desk next to the train station (which is otherwise an apathetic if not unfriendly source of misinformation), hotels and some newsstands. The map costs RMB6 and has listings of bus routes, metro stops, hotels and attractions.

Taxi: As in most Chinese cities, the taxi business in China is intensely competitive. Drivers have to put in ten-hour shifts seven days a week just to get by. In Shenzhen, a driver will have to earn RMB500-600 each day to cover the rental and running costs of the car. Unsurprisingly, overcharging is not uncommon and strangers to the city are likely targets. If you feel that your driver has taken you on a circuitous route or that the amount on the meter does not correspond to the distance traveled, get a receipt and ask the staff at your hotel to help you make a complaint. Sometimes a driver will take a roundabout route so as to avoid heavy traffic and, thus, delays and even higher costs. To avoid problems be wary of touts and drivers who quote a price instead of using the meter. At the train station (Luohu border) go directly to the taxi stand at the basement level. Never get in a cab that does not have the driver's taxi license displayed on the dashboard.

Zhongying Street: Zhongying Street is one of the eight officially recommended tourist attractions in Shenzhen. The attraction of this street is that one side is in the Chinese Mainland and the other is in Hong Kong, earning it the nickname "one street two systems". Unfortunately, foreign passport holders cannot enter Zhongying Street. Ignore the official brochure, which describes the street in English and save yourself the trip to Yantian district.