Just 15 minutes away from Hong Kong by train is the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen. A rural backwater 40 years ago, it has expanded rapidly in recent decades and is now the home of Chinese technology champions Huawei, Tencent and DJI. As Hong Kong’s worst political crisis in decades rattles on into its ninth month, some are asking: can Shenzhen take its place? 

Beijing in August unveiled a set of wide-ranging reforms intended to boost Shenzhen’s economy and elevate its position in China. Some analysts see the move as a threat to the status of protest-rattled Hong Kong. 

“The policy was announced to intimidate Hong Kong. It was propaganda meant to scare Hong Kong people,” said Willy Lam, a professor of Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.